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#0241
Soft-Ground Etchings by Nelson Dawson
“ A NORTH COUNTRY FISHING-VILLAGE
BY NELSON DAWSON
removed by the pressure of the point, so that, in
printing from it, the charming effect of pencil-draw-
ing is presented. Now, owing to the softness of the
ground, this is a much more uncertain process in
working than ordinary line-etching. For example, a
plate worked on out of doors in the morning may be
unworkable later in the day if the temperature has
got cooler, for the ground will have hardened, and
so will not be picked up by the paper when pressed
upon by the point. But there is a charm of un-
expectedness in the method which makes it more
interesting; accidents in the biting may often lend
some unlooked-for beauty of suggestion, and so
valuable is the accidental element in soft-ground
that the artist will often tempt or even coax the
chancing.
It is sometimes objected that there is a resem-
blance between soft-ground etching and lithography,
that their results are similar. This resemblance
is superficial. Both methods offer the artist great
reedom in draughtsmanship, variety of stroke,
and the expression of individuality; but soft-
ground etching has that advantage of greater
depth and richness in printing which comes from
bitten lines. Among the forms of etching soft
ground has a distinctive quality and charm of its
own; it is essentially a painter-etcher’s method,
and it seems to me surprising that artists have not
used it more extensively. Of course, there are
some classic examples. Turner used this medium
to a small extent, and no more exquisite example of
its pictorial possibilities can be imagined than the
rare proof of the soft-ground etching of Calm in
the British Museum. Soft-ground Turner used
also for the etching of Narcissus and Echo and
Sandbank and Gipsies. John Sell Cotman also
set a high standard for the medium in his interest-
ing Liber Studiorum; Crome, too, in some of his
tree-etchings. David Cox and Samuel Prout used
it in their books on landscape-painting, Girtin for
!95
“ A NORTH COUNTRY FISHING-VILLAGE
BY NELSON DAWSON
removed by the pressure of the point, so that, in
printing from it, the charming effect of pencil-draw-
ing is presented. Now, owing to the softness of the
ground, this is a much more uncertain process in
working than ordinary line-etching. For example, a
plate worked on out of doors in the morning may be
unworkable later in the day if the temperature has
got cooler, for the ground will have hardened, and
so will not be picked up by the paper when pressed
upon by the point. But there is a charm of un-
expectedness in the method which makes it more
interesting; accidents in the biting may often lend
some unlooked-for beauty of suggestion, and so
valuable is the accidental element in soft-ground
that the artist will often tempt or even coax the
chancing.
It is sometimes objected that there is a resem-
blance between soft-ground etching and lithography,
that their results are similar. This resemblance
is superficial. Both methods offer the artist great
reedom in draughtsmanship, variety of stroke,
and the expression of individuality; but soft-
ground etching has that advantage of greater
depth and richness in printing which comes from
bitten lines. Among the forms of etching soft
ground has a distinctive quality and charm of its
own; it is essentially a painter-etcher’s method,
and it seems to me surprising that artists have not
used it more extensively. Of course, there are
some classic examples. Turner used this medium
to a small extent, and no more exquisite example of
its pictorial possibilities can be imagined than the
rare proof of the soft-ground etching of Calm in
the British Museum. Soft-ground Turner used
also for the etching of Narcissus and Echo and
Sandbank and Gipsies. John Sell Cotman also
set a high standard for the medium in his interest-
ing Liber Studiorum; Crome, too, in some of his
tree-etchings. David Cox and Samuel Prout used
it in their books on landscape-painting, Girtin for
!95