Part 1 (1/2)

The Art of Illustration

by Henry Blackburn

PREFACE

The object of this book is to explain the modern systems of Book and Newspaper Illustration, and especially thefor what is coaged

There is almost a revolution in illustration at the present ti--teachers and scholars--are in want of a handbook for reference when turning to the new methods The illustrator of to-day is called upon suddenly to take the place of the wood engraver in interpreting tone into line, and requires practical information which this book is intended to supply

The most i_, as it is practically out of reach of corapher, and is,most easily reproduced and printed at the type press; but wash drawing, drawing upon grained papers, and the modern appliances for reproduction, are all treated of

The best instructors in drawing for process are, after all, the _painters of pictures_ who knoell how to express theations There is a wide distinction between their treatment of ”illustration” and the so-called ”pen-and-ink” artist

The ”genius” who strikes out a wonderful path of his ohose scratches and splashes appear in so many books and newspapers, is of the ”butterfly” order of being--a creation, so to speak, of the processes, and is not to be emulated or i for process, a round (if there be a background) have the appearance of fireworks No ability on the part of the illustrator will s tolerable in the near future There is a reaction already, and signs of a better and more sober treatment of illustration, which only requires a _better understanding of the requirements and limitations of the processes_, to make it equal to some of the best work of the past

The ines--in drawing for the processes A study of exa--such as Holbein, Menzell, Fortuny or Sandys--or of the best work of the etchers, will not tell the student of to-day exactly what he requires to know; for they are nearly allas to the principles upon whichwe learn everything fro also, we learn from the past the best way to interpret colour into line, but in drawing for the processes there is practically no ”past” to refer to; at the sarapher into the domain of illustration renders it of vital importance to artists to put forth their best work in black and white, and it throws great responsibility upon art teachers to give a good groundwork of education to the illustrator of the future In all this, education--_general education_--will take a wider part

The ILlustRATIONS have been selected to show the possibilities of ”process” work in educated, capable hands, rather than any _tours de force_ in drawing, or exploits of genius They are all of modern work, and are printed on the same sheets as the letterpress

_All the Illustrations in this book have been reproduced bynine_ (raved on wood

Acknowledgments are due to the Council of the Society of Arts for permission to reprint a portion of the Cantor Lectures on ”Illustration”

from their Journal; to the Editors of the _National Review_ and the _Nineteenth Century_, for peres from articles in those reviews; to the Editors and Publishers who have lent illustrations; and above all, to the artists whose works adorn these pages

H B

123, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER

_May, 1894_

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of engraving for illustration in books, which are widely distinct--1 _intaglio_; 2 _relievo_ The first coravures in which the lines are cut or indented by acid or other means, into a steel or copper plate--a system employed, with na, Albert Durer, Holbein and Relish etchers of the present day Engravings thus produced are little used in modern book illustration, as they cannot be printed easily on the sae as the letterpress; these _planches a part_, as the French term them, are costly to print and are suitable only for limited editions

In the second, or ordinary form of illustration, the lines or pictures to be printed are left in relief; the design being generally made on ith a pencil, and the parts not drawn upon cut away This was the rudimentary and almost universal form of book-illustration, as practised in the fifteenth century, as revived in England by Bewick in the eighteenth, and continued to the present day The blocks thus prepared can be printed rapidly on ordinary printing-presses, and on _the sa the past few years so s in relief, for printing with the type, that it has become a business in itself to test and understand the, at least it is the best for the fac-siland, whether they be drawn direct upon the wood or transraphy There is no process in relief which has the sahtness, and by which gradation of tone can be more truly rendered

As to the relative value of the different photographic relief processes, that can only be decided by experts Speaking generally, I may say that there are six or seven now in use, each of which is, I am infor in the same manner as a wood-block[1] I made so rapidly that as best yesterday will not be the best to-morrow, and it is a subject which is still little understood

In the present book it is proposed to speak principally of the more popular fores which are taking place in all for and illustration render it necessary to say a feords first upon _intaglio_ We have heard much of the ”painter-etchers,” and of the claiinal artists; and at the annual exhibition of the Society of Painter-Etchers in London, we have seen examples in which the effects produced in black and white seeraver's But we are considering engraving as athe work of others, rather than as an original art

The influence of photography is felt in nearly every department of illustration The new photo-raver_, have rendered drawing for fac-simile reproduction of more importance than ever; and the wonderful invention called _photogravure_, in which an engraving ishandwork[2]