International studio (52.1914)

The Senefelder Club

And it was not until the County Council started
classes in lithography, ably carried on by Mr.
Jackson, that the secrets and the mysteries were
exposed and found to be mostly made up of lemon
juice, trade unionism, stale beer and hide-bound
stupidity. And then text-books began to be pub-
lished, and really the great encouragers of litho-
graphy, as they have described themselves and been
described, began under the instruction and direction
of artists to learn a little themselves. The revival
of artistic lithography has come about despite the
difficulties caused by professional lithographers,
not because, as is usually said, of their encourage-
ment. For the British lithographer as a rule loathes
the artist and hates to have him about.
From the schools comes the “Neolith,”a magazine
illustrated, written and printed entirely by litho-
graphy. Some of the more brilliant younger men
found in lithography, in the “ Neolith,” a most
sympathetic method of work and they have con-
tinued to practise it with success ever since. Soon
they found another difficulty besides secrecy ; that
had broken down, but they could not break down
expense, which has been in the hands of some of
these worthy advocates of the artistic importance
of lithography—provided the lithographs were
printed in their shops—the great reason why the
revival of artistic lithography has been so long in
coming about—artists in this country could not
afford to practise it. And the loudest advocates
charged the highest prices for their work, and sent
in their bills promptly, and then two things
happened: the faint-hearted and light-pocketed
were driven away, while those who cared and had
money enough bought presses of their own. Will
it be believed that some of the British firms which
most loudly were calling upon artists to come to
them and practise the art charged those who came
more than American prices, and twice as much as
equally good work is done here for by workmen
with no arty-and-crafty-pretensions ? I do not say
that in every case the professional printer was a
drawback. Thomas Way drew Whistler’s attention
to lithography; he helped the artist, and Mr. Bray,
the printer, carried out his instructions. But had
Whistler been allowed to work in the shop instead
of spending his time in the office waiting for proofs,
to- etch his plates, and to stand over the printer, we
should have had more and more remarkable litho-
graphs from him. As for the rest of us we were
simply driven away by the cost of printing. With
one’s own press and a capable printer, one
can do for eighteenpence what some of these
encouragers of lithography charge twenty-five
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shillings for doing, after the artists have told them
how to do it I
These are then the reasons why the revival has
been so long on the way. But now the artists
have broken open the closed door between the
office and the shop, have been given fair prices,
laughed at the stupid regulations of the trade
union—will it be believed, in this country a printer
may not move a stone under penalty of something
happening to him from the union ?—and there are
men in each shop who do nothing else but count
stones. Artists have studied in the schools,
bought their own presses, found new ways of work-
ing, and the revival has come about, the tide has
turned. We have had much to contend with—the
apathy, the unwillingness till lately of most dealers
to sell, to show, or even to have in their shops or
galleries a lithograph. If you asked them why—
they were too big. You pointed out that the
badder and bigger an etching was the better and
quicker it sold ; that a good lithograph might be
big—that some of the biggest were the best. Well,
nobody wanted them. Finally the reason, the real
root of the matter, was disclosed. Dealers—there
always have been exceptions—did not want litho-
graphs because they finally confessed if they sold
them, as they easily could, it would interfere with
their trade in real hand-made manufactured, boomed
and inflated-priced copper plates which they
happened to control, or the hack they owned who
turned them out. Therefore, till lately, collectors
were warned against the lithograph, and as most
collectors are the products of most dealers, they did
as they were bid and avoided the lithograph.
Here, too, there have been exceptions and there are
now many notable collections of lithographs being
formed both publicly and privately. Another
matter; little as the average art criticism of this
country is worth, if it is of no artistic value it is useful
as an advertisement; but most British art critics’'
art writing is confined to oil paint—and among oil
painters to their pals—or else they belong to a
family of parrots who all repeat the same prattle
and syndicate it round the country. These critics,
not knowing anything about art, fight shy of litho-
graphy and still refuse to notice it, and we lose
much amusement, because some of them have
become from sad experience rather conscious that
when they write they make themselves ridiculous.
So knowing nothing, they ignore—instead of finding
out about—lithography.
On the other hand, there are some admirably
equipped critics in the country who now realise the
importance of the graphic arts and lithography