The daily gazette., 1882-01-03
EnxIIsh and American Wo.a.u..


Liverpool Courier, December 10.
We can ferglve, perhaps, some Of the
unslghtly daubs and scrat ehas that fionre
in the cheaper weekly papers, bat whv
should the ordinary Christmas book, for
which a good price is generally asked,
De so hideous artisticaIiy? WHY. in fact
should Bntsh illustrative work be ao
bad that distinguished novelist. pub-
llshing one of his whrks in q popular
monthly maRaz ne, positively stipulated
tnat u should not be ILLUSTRATED" at ally
us radical interiority may be gathered
from casual comparison OF any OF our
miscellaneous magazines with such pub.
heationa as Hdrper's or the CentllrU late
| Scrtbner'S). The English woodcuts will
De found to be angular In drawing sAd
stiff IN engraving, the lights and shad
oWs broadly and vulgarly disposed, and
the whole composition giving the i'm.
preston OF having been turned ont nv
machinery. Such are English nillustra.
| tl0ns." How different are American,
People have wondered over and over
| again nov the tao magazines abuvs-
named can afford to give such a wealth
| OF woodruts every mouth but how much
i more marvellous are the grace of the
drawing and the deIicacy, the soFt meas,
the poetry Uf the engravingi # Ia moi
SO much superiority OF drauRhtsmaD.
snip, though we believe we have on the
| whole fewer good everyday drau0hts-
men than our Yankee brethren. hi a
marked superiority n the Interpretation
OF the drawing by the enRraver. Amer
ican engravlngs have what ours SO rare
ly have-dehcacy of touch, softness of
atmosphere and poetry OF feeling. They
are mostly Veri'a5le works of art--thlngs
of beauty and joys forever. And whv ~
our inferiority so manifest? The reason
Is not wholly TO be found in our pnhTc;s
lack OF taste, form England HdrDer's
ana the Century are very popular.-
Something, no doubt, Ia to be said for
the Yankee habit OF calling In the aid
OF photography in illustration. Bv ma
ing the camera for the transferepce of
the drawing to the wood the Americana
allow OF an artist making his original
sKeteh in any form he Pleases, whether
IN pencil, in ink, in water-color or in
OLE and the Result Is hat the enRFaver
becomes almost as important "a the
draugbt'maH, fact which tends to the
eleVahon OF the profession. And the en-
graVer, Decomlbg more important and
takinR higher view of his duty. .devotes
hitnsef to the faithful and artistic reDro-
auction of the artists work, whereas in
England the euRravers, each with a
mannerlsm OF bis own, treat every artist
0"AOo' uaJIuR MS peCpll rifles TO
thelrs. These, we believe, are the m al n
reasons for the inferiority of English an.
craving; bnt there Is yet another reason.
ana that lies In the purely commercial
spirit In which loo much of our enprav.
ing is performed. We think "a we have
saio, ZOO much of quantity, and tho ,e-
suit Is tendency towards making an.
craving practically = branch of mann.
tactnre. WoOdcuts are turned ont with
US Ike buttons. There are "firmsu NJ
sngraVers, and the cheaper sort of work
ls gwen to apprentices to do, That Is
now we manage things in England. and
u Is hardly to be wondered at, therefore.
nat the art Of engraving should be. on
the WHOLE In so pailous condition IN
our midst. ~