The sun., 1916-11-19
IN PRAISE OF THE FINE OLD ART OF
LINE ENGRAVING.
vagares Of Fashion May Exht Paint, bot Mr.. Huneker Celebrate, III.
Chastcr Charms OF Black and White.

hardness be urged against tho los,
personal art OF line engraving ut
just az personal as the etche,s IN
different way what cannot be sad Il,
h thin. shallow. facilc impre ssiouism
OF the etched plate? II lacks struc.
ture except in the supreme ant Of q
Meryon. 1t may be the vehicle for
pifling anecdote or the stampinp
ground for the superficial daLhcr
Mezzotint is not always the most sat.
isfactory expression of art. 1t, too.
mainly reproductive. and sometimes
its seductive, vclvety surfaces degcn.
crate into monotonous formulas
For between a Valentine Green and
his interpretations OF Sir ,Ioshua
Reynolds. or a Richard Earlom's vieo
of an in~candescent forge. and the God
intoxicated visions OF a John Martin
there Is a wide gulf of technical
mastery. Martin may have been hal,
mad-most mystics are in the light O.
worldly reason-but he possessed the
vision. the imagination; while Green
and Earlom, both accomplished copper
scrapers. saw only the superncics OF
things eternal. To-day John Martin
VI" 70 uou Aoi 'ho uShihs' ana the
iaIiciiuI fiIanesi ~ II urus IN any print
SHOP. Neitner y mczZotinter nor the
etcher cared ior that mysterious
quality" so essential in all arts.
1t Is quality then that appeals IN
etching and mezzotint. 1t was quality
hat once appealed when the specimen
plates Of master line engravers were IN
vogue. Well and good. But why
DOESN'T tnat quaity continue TO make
inc same appeal 10 delicate and dis
eliminating taste as 1t did some forty
years ago! The answer Is. naturally
Fasnion. fashion a decreed
mat the grand old II engraving be-
hung IN crepuscular Railways. To be
sure, there Is a halfway In the Pitt
palace. Florence a u Hooded hallway
on the rough walls or which sing the
nlarveis or lyric line cnsravinrs
fashion says: Adnir the signed etch-
ing. the remarTue PROOF, II there DO
one. Fashion has set top notch fg~
ures for the English mezzotinters OF
English portraiture. by leaps and
bounds the prices or Green and his
contemporaries have been mounting,
so much so that TO own a Sir Joshua
or a G~ainsoorough In mezAo'iht Is to
proclaim yourseii a man or means
mere IS not the silShtest ohJec-
tion 10 THESE cxaltcd prices. Rare arr
can never De hish besides the
uorhaih OF ihezzotihtihS VIII soon De a.
pare OF practItlohers as mat or IN"
engraving. = AREN'T EDWARDS J. t"'
chiel name nat occurs 10 us III hl'@@''
tintlng' whiie the eminent artist thhi
Is llmothy Coie STANDS so'itdry ID,
prooably the last or the great "'o'
ehgra'ers, as niahuei may ne s''d 10"
I've the last Oh the ia!houS me oi~f'
ers Oh EUROPE
AHe oH.e I" e!ue' S'H.'' ~
oiach anu Witt ans - no" "'"'f
'i'oeieIia' VINO p"' an aH""H '''"
minority cares ior tnc S'a'elH pc
VI t"e PAST no" t"''' "'th'''"
iepio"cnes 'h' Hee"1eSS h'S'" 90 '"'
I"s what '"~t''"''N"' process van
-" t"' ,'"'S w" i"''
mS.', ""' H"'''''
o' -
~ "'' wv" ',en
'.' ue'''a.c "'e9Se VI nc ie'''"'
Nv "'"JeHos a"eep u. pciN'' y" '
''uoH'.' r,''o",e "ta'
us h'au oi h''s''"'' '"e S''N "''
n '"f
800" p"'p,'s
So
80, ~ - ,no.n.'
- - m,r,.r |
90, =, naurn u..n1 a..
49,, our,,nr -, ,r,n,s ~, 80 -.
~ 49,, -, nai,,a
,.,,rohJa ha1t "lIau =, ,,,r,
prirt." Tho ornr,.od ,'
arnnc o,ho. rosonrc,. ,,.....f
disnosipr NJ moss I, - mar, ....,
,h,n nczzntint in IN. -inlt.....g ~.
char,c,er and never a. r,,p.,o,.g.
In the nuid imnrcssIoniam t,,
often Insignificant na,tarn ,f =,
II opposes n static quality. tho
thetic qualities os tho ner,uar,rr
ma iestic. the gracious and th, u
full. 1t is a more supple nlea.g.I %
either etching or the scraped COPS.
though in this attribute il give 81
TO wood engraving.
What cannot line engraving a,r
plish In the way of intcrrrc'4r
Only think OF the variety of 'r..
STYLES and artistic individuals,
pushed behind every labor!ou.,r
graved steel plate-stco, L. q.
use since lS2O-therc turks an artist
personality. Think of Mamie.
master OF line in his paiutIu. d,
Lucas. of the quaint Martin S.sr".
gauer. Altdorfer, WieriX, SAaa,,l a.
Goltzius: OF Carraci. Willie. Nt't'.