DOI Heft:
Nr. 199 (September, 1913)
DOI Artikel:Salaman, Malcolm C.: The soft-ground etchings of Nelson Dawson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43453#0240
Soft-Ground Etchings by Nelson Dawson
The soft-ground etchings
OF NELSON DAWSON. BY
MALCOLM C. SALAMAN.
Mr. Nelson Dawson is an artist of multifarious
activities. Not content with those mediums of
expression in which he has won success, he must
be for ever experimenting with fresh ones. Years
ago he gained an exceptional reputation as a
metal-worker, original and exquisite; while his
water-colour drawings of marine subjects have long
been recognised as among the best of their kind.
His colour-prints, from several aquatint plates,
have a place of their own among the most dis-
tinguished of the original engravings for colour that
are now coming into favour with collectors at home
and abroad. In black and white aquatint his
powerful Halle aux Poissons is a distinctive achieve-
ment, while the essential quality of line-etching is
handled with engaging art in such a happy plate as
his Turning to Windward. Lately Mr. Dawson
has turned his attention seriously to soft-ground
etching, and his accomplishment, as well as his
promise, with this little-used medium may be seen
in the six attractive plates reproduced here.
The aim of soft-ground etching is to represent
the texture of crayon or pencil-drawing, and its
technique needs more delicate care in handling than
that of line-etching. An ordinary etching-ground
is mixed with about half its weight of tallow, lard,
or some other kind of fat, the proportion being
regulated by the temperature of the atmosphere ;
for instance, in winter more tallow or lard is needed
than in summer. This ground is laid on the plate
and smoked black in the usual way. Then a very
thin piece of paper, such as tissue paper, is strained
over it, and on this the artist makes his drawing
with a pencil or other blunt point, the pressure of
which causes some of the soft sticky ground to adhere
to the back of the paper wherever the drawing has
been made. When the paper is lifted, the ground
where the pencil-point has pressed reproduces the
grain of the paper. Then the plate is put into the
bath, and the acid bites where the ground has been
“dunwich, 1912”
194
BY NELSON DAWSON
The soft-ground etchings
OF NELSON DAWSON. BY
MALCOLM C. SALAMAN.
Mr. Nelson Dawson is an artist of multifarious
activities. Not content with those mediums of
expression in which he has won success, he must
be for ever experimenting with fresh ones. Years
ago he gained an exceptional reputation as a
metal-worker, original and exquisite; while his
water-colour drawings of marine subjects have long
been recognised as among the best of their kind.
His colour-prints, from several aquatint plates,
have a place of their own among the most dis-
tinguished of the original engravings for colour that
are now coming into favour with collectors at home
and abroad. In black and white aquatint his
powerful Halle aux Poissons is a distinctive achieve-
ment, while the essential quality of line-etching is
handled with engaging art in such a happy plate as
his Turning to Windward. Lately Mr. Dawson
has turned his attention seriously to soft-ground
etching, and his accomplishment, as well as his
promise, with this little-used medium may be seen
in the six attractive plates reproduced here.
The aim of soft-ground etching is to represent
the texture of crayon or pencil-drawing, and its
technique needs more delicate care in handling than
that of line-etching. An ordinary etching-ground
is mixed with about half its weight of tallow, lard,
or some other kind of fat, the proportion being
regulated by the temperature of the atmosphere ;
for instance, in winter more tallow or lard is needed
than in summer. This ground is laid on the plate
and smoked black in the usual way. Then a very
thin piece of paper, such as tissue paper, is strained
over it, and on this the artist makes his drawing
with a pencil or other blunt point, the pressure of
which causes some of the soft sticky ground to adhere
to the back of the paper wherever the drawing has
been made. When the paper is lifted, the ground
where the pencil-point has pressed reproduces the
grain of the paper. Then the plate is put into the
bath, and the acid bites where the ground has been
“dunwich, 1912”
194
BY NELSON DAWSON