Evening star., 1921-02-13
Notes of Art and Artists

At the Public Library there is now
on exhibition a collection Of wood
engravings by the late Henry Wolf,
which will be found of exceptional
| interest.
| Wood engraving is one Of the most
DDS and is a branch Of graphic art
which has been most highly developed
in this country. It differs from
ordinary engraving on metal quite
| widely, inasmuch as in the so-called
! steel engraving the line is made by
| cutting into the surface Of the plate.
| whereas in wood engraving the line
is formed by cutting the surface away
and leaving the line standing in re-
lief. Thus Duerer produced his famous
| wood cuts and almost all of the illus
trations in the magazines of the first
half of the nineteenth century were
produced.
These latter were, however. crude
affairs as compared to the wood en-
cravings of Henry Wolf, Timothy Cole
and one or two others. In fineness
of texture and subtle graduation of
, tone there is little to choose between
the works of these wood engravers
sibly if choice were to be made it
would be in favor of the former, as
wood engraving in the hands of these
master engravers proved even more
flexible than engraving on metal.
Primarily, wood engraving is
reproductive method. wood engravers.
like steel engravers, in most instances
giving their attention to the repro
duction of paintings by other artists
rather than to original work. Herein
engraving differs diametrically from
etching.
There are in the collection now on
view at the Public Library several ex-
| amples of original engravng-for in
stance. an impressionistic landscape
entitled '"The Evening STAR and
MIST; these were not only engraved,
but drawn by Henry Wolf.
Far more successful and engaging,
however. are the works which Mr..
Wolf copied from paintings. These
were done in most cases directly from
the originals and are sympathetic in
terpretations as well as conscientious
"My Mother" "Thomas Carlyle" and
Miss Alexander"-paintin by Whis-
tier. There is an excellent reproduction
of Sargent's portrait of Miss Cary
charming little Beatrice"
Other painters are admirably repre-
sented in the collection; in fact, the
history of American art at it's best
| may be traced through these engrav-
ings. There are portraits by Gilbert
Stuart and by Peale; landscapes by
Swain Clifford. Homer Martin. Wyant,
Iness. as well as Dewey and Dearth,
Ranger and others; figures by John w.
Alexander. Cecilia Beaux, Edwin H.
Blashfield. George de Forest Brush,
Chase and Blum and Winslow Homer:
marines by Dougherty, Homer and
Alexander Harrison; genres by East
man Johnson, Horatio Walker, A. B.
Frost and others.
And what is more, these paintings by
Americans are shown in juxtaposition
with paintings by the great masters
not only Of Europe. but of all time
Velasquez, Vermeer, da Vinci. Botti-
cell, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Sir
Thomas Lawrence, Corot, Manet.
1t is interesting and astounding to
find that the engraver. while possess
ing a style distinctly his own, has
been able to subordinate his own indi-
viduality to that of the masters whom
he has copied SO that in every in
stance the distinguishing characteris-
tics of the original have been pre-
served in the reproduction.
Note should also be made of a num-
in this collection, which were made
from photographs, among which may
be mentioned one of Abraham Lin
coin, enlarged from a Brady photo
graph. made in 1863, and a portrait Of
Robert Louis Stevenson, enlarged
from a snapshot. There is also an
excellent self portrait.
Henry Wolf was born in Alsace in
1852. He came to New York in 1871
and was made a member of the Ma
tional Academy of Design in 1908. For
his wood engravings he received many
awards both in the United States and
in Europe. He was member of the
international jury Of award at the st.
Louis Exposition in 1904.
Among his most celebrated works
were the American artists series and
the Gilbert Stuart portrait series, both
Of which were done for the Century,
and portraits Of men and masterpieces
in galleries done for Harper's. It is
proof prints Of these series that are
included in this exhibition, loaned by
his sons. and circulated as an exhi-
| bition by the American Federation Of