Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1888-03-22

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Wsrk Clearly D~an.d.


wsrk Clearly D~an.d-
Engraving to-day is not mere copy
ing. Il is an art in itself which should
no, be attempted by any persons ex-
eept those who have \ good aequaint~
ance with drawing. and also some
artistic talent To bc sure. II any en-
graver wants 10 b. a mere copyist Of
the lines he can earn bis living. His
task viii be the cutting Of designs for
psien, reports kind a work poorly
remuneraied The Chinese copyist
has his merits. aud there are many
Chinese out Of China The vell-Paid
wood-engravers Of to-day must have
originality. for 1t Is originality in .
certain sense which accrues TO his
benefit. although he may apparently
only carry out the inspiration Of an
other. To engrave with skill req quires
art instruction in the widest sense
There must be accuracy in drawing.
an acquaintance with effects. knowi-
edge of tintS shadows and the power
to supplement the crudeness or the
vagueness of the original design with
effects OF ones 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 II spoIls them
for the higher grades Of engraving.
Unless a woman can devote two OF
three years to nothing but practice
work. she might a. well never have
begun her career. She may get into
an Office. but unless she is willing to
accept much less pay than
man she will not find position II
she wants to do picture-work. that Is.
.ngrsvs from photographs or wash
drawings. she had better make up her
mind to study three years without ex-
pectiug remuneration II seems nat
ural. after woman has gone through
three years course If engraving. 10
ask for work At an Office She will In
all probability be refused The reason
given Is that men are preferred Only
two or three women in New YORK
have come up TO the high standard Of
men in wool engraving. One of these
has been working hard for ten and an
other for fifteen veais Women are
apt to be weak in style. and the frs.
requisite in wood engraving IS
tirmness and clearuess- A nice little
line here and fine line there amount
TO nothing. Each line must rep
resent something. and show that IL
was not put there to ill up space
The fault with the general run of
women engravers Is that they do not
select 4 special kind Of work l
should advise women Ia take special
work. and sticking tn that. they might
then make q modest reputation Let
them try to become landscape. figure
or portrait engravers. but not attempt
all three of these at one time. The
greatest compliment that can be paid
a woman is to tell her that she works
like a man That means she has a
mans boldness and firmness Of touch
Ha woman wants to become an en-
graver. she must devote six hours q
day to her engraving. and two more
to drawing making eight hours 4
day. Very few men or women are
willing to do this A. first there
should be drawing from the cast with
charcoal in a broad style As the
pupil advances she must keep mp her
engraving. later on drawing from
life. Drawing and engraving must
go on together.
1t is = good plan to take the WORK
Of some leading engraver and study
his method of treatment. / know Of
some women who. following this plan.
have acquired a fair reputation IT,
then. n woman has some talen. and
perseverance,. there is no reason
why she should not attempt wood
engraving. IL is. however. use
less when a woman reaches middle age
to study engraving. Her future Is too
short for that Fourteen i not too
young for = girl to begin. for it is
easier then 10 learn how 10 handle the
tools have known some who have
spent their first year in acquiring
facility with the tools Il seems an
difficult il Is until tried In the course
OF instruction women are apt 10 de-
pend Overmuch on their teachers
They are afraid to cut face or hand
without the help Of their master. II
they make mp their minds to cut
face or n hand without all. 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 II their own II
might be supposed that do not favor
women as wood engravers. What
do think Is this: that il Is a great mis-
take for so many women to adOp, the
profession when they have no alsnt
for drawing. Competition exists be-
cause there are 20 many women who
work like machines - Harper's Bazar.
Il took nv hEsi lessons IN agri-
-ulrure in driving the COW tn D4<srre