The Arizona sentinel., 1888-03-31
WOMEN AS ENeRAvERs.
The Promises anI Limitations or the
 Work Clearly Defined.


 Work Clearly Defined.
 Engraving to-day is not mere copy ing, it is an art in itself, which should not be attempted by any persons ex- cept those who have a good acquaint- ance with drawing and also some artistic talent To be sure. if any en- graver wants to be a mere copyist of the lines. he can earn his living. H is task wilt be the cutting of designs for patent reports-a kind of work poorly remunerated. The Chinese copyist has his merits. and there are many Chinese out of China. The well-paid wood gravers of to-day must have originality. for it is originality in a certain sense which acerues 10 his benefit, although he may apparently only carry out the inspira on of an- other. To engrav with s.iil req uires art instruction in tuo widest sense. There must be accuracY in drawing, an acquaintance wilh effects, knowl- edge of tints, shadows. and the power to supplement the crudeness or the vagueness of the original design with effects of one's own.
 A woman can make living by do- ing what is called fashion or stock work, but when engravers get into that style of work it spells them for the higher grades of engraving. Unless a woman can devote two or three years to nothing but practice work, she might as well never have begun her career. She may get into an office, but unless she is willing to accept much less pay than a man she will not fild position. If she wants to do picture work, that is, engrave from photographs or wash drawings, she had better make up her mind to study three years without ex- pecting remuneration. It seems nat ural, after woman has gone through three years course of engraving, to ask for work at an office. She will in all probability be refused. The eason given is that men are preferred. Only two or three women in New York have come up to the high standard of men in wood engraving One of these has been working hard for fen and an- other for fifteen yeals. Women are apt to be weak in slyle and the first requisite in woou engraving is firmness and clearness. A nice little line here and fine line there amount to nothing. Each line must rep resent something, and show that it was not put there to fill up space. The fault with the general run of women engraverS is that they do not select a special kind of work. l should advise women to take special work, and sticking 10 that, they might then make a modest reputation. Let them try to become landscape figure or portrait cngrave~s, eblt not attempt all three of these at one time. The greatest compliment that can be paid a woman is to tell her that sho works like man. That means she has mans boldness and firmness of touch.
 If @ woman wants to become an en- graver, she must devote six hours day to her engraving, and two more to drawing making eight hours day. Very few men or women are willing to do this. At first there should be drawing from the cast with charcoal in broad style. As the pupil advances she must keep up her engraving. later on drawing from life. Drawing and engraving must go on together.
 It is a good plan to take the work of some leading engraver and study his method of treatment l know of some women who, following this plan. have acquired fair reputation. If, then, a woman has some talent and perseverance, there is no reason why she should not attempt wood engraving. It is, however use- less when a woman reaches middle age to study engraving. Her future is too short for that Fourteen is not too young for girl to begin. for it is easier then to learn how to handle the tools. have known some who have spent their first year in acquiring facility with the tools. It seems an easy matter, but no one knows how difficult it is until tried. In the course of instruction women are apt to de- pend overmuch on their teachers. They are afraid to cut face or hand without the help of their master. If they make up their minds to cut a face or hand without aid, they would see how much easier the next one could be engraved. Advice how the work is to be done does the pupil more good than patterns set for her. Pupils who rely solely upon their instructor never have style of their own. It might be supposed that I do not favor women as wood engravers. What ] do think is this: that it is a great mis- take for so many women to adopt the profession when they have no talent for drawing. Competition exists be- cause there are so many women who work like machines. -Hnrper's Ba=Gr. 
 Il took my first lessons Tn agri- culture in driving the COW to pasture. and leading the horse to blow upon the farm; and though fate has led me in other paths, yet there never has
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