DOI Artikel:
Ward, Morris R.: The etchings of George Elbert Burr
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43457#0016
The Etchings of George Elbert Burr
excessively laborious process of “wiping” the
plate in such a way that each and every tone is
confined to its proper territory. The least “run-
ning” of colour would be disastrous.
In the multiple-plate process employed, for in-
stance, by Nelson Dawes and Lee Hankey, of
England, each tone or colour requires a distinct
plate, properly prepared to receive it. The print-
ing is rendered more simple by the mechanical
devices used to pass the paper under the successive
plates. It is for this reason that Mr. Hankey, in
order to sustain the integrity of his work, promises
more for their softness and delicacy than for any
qualities of range. They are all, so to speak,
orchestrated in the low, cool tones, and seek to
render an air of subtle imagery to the whole rather
than to state plain facts baldly. As a colourist he
is as different as possible from Mr. Vaughan Trow-
bridge, for instance, who employs a much higher
scale of colour orchestration, and delights in a
rich, glowing extravaganza of tones.
Mr. Burr’s plates, as prepared for colour, are
subjected to the customary auxiliary methods of
aquatint and soft-ground, in order that the colour
FLORENCE FROM SAN MINIATO (DRY-POINT)
BY GEORGE ELBERT BURR
that each proof shall be “pulled” by himself, thus
avoiding the dangers of ordinary mechanical
colour printing.
These dangers are of necessity eliminated in
work which, as Mr. Burr’s, demands the continual
artistic skill and ability of the artist himself.
Moreover, it is not difficult to see how, every print
requiring a separate printing of the plate, a great
variety of effort will be found in the various proofs
of any one plate. This lends a certain atmosphere
of novelty and permits a large range of treatment
in a plate, by which it may be made to represent
the same scene at different hours or seasons.
Mr. Burr’s colours in this work are distinguished
may hold. Large spaces, requiring massed colour,
are bitten away through a resin or sulphur ground,
and the innumerable projections serve to retain
the pigment. In soft-ground work, Mr. Burr has
produced a decided novelty in his Evening, Lake
Geneva. The entire plate was etched in soft-
ground, no needle line being used, and the result
(in a subdued blue) is extremely beautiful.
Few proofs are printed from a given plate,
owing to the rapid deterioration of the lines under
pressure. Mr. Burr never steel-faces his work,
considering that it would suffer from the metallic
rigidity of the steel line.
The printing is always done on moistened paper
XII
excessively laborious process of “wiping” the
plate in such a way that each and every tone is
confined to its proper territory. The least “run-
ning” of colour would be disastrous.
In the multiple-plate process employed, for in-
stance, by Nelson Dawes and Lee Hankey, of
England, each tone or colour requires a distinct
plate, properly prepared to receive it. The print-
ing is rendered more simple by the mechanical
devices used to pass the paper under the successive
plates. It is for this reason that Mr. Hankey, in
order to sustain the integrity of his work, promises
more for their softness and delicacy than for any
qualities of range. They are all, so to speak,
orchestrated in the low, cool tones, and seek to
render an air of subtle imagery to the whole rather
than to state plain facts baldly. As a colourist he
is as different as possible from Mr. Vaughan Trow-
bridge, for instance, who employs a much higher
scale of colour orchestration, and delights in a
rich, glowing extravaganza of tones.
Mr. Burr’s plates, as prepared for colour, are
subjected to the customary auxiliary methods of
aquatint and soft-ground, in order that the colour
FLORENCE FROM SAN MINIATO (DRY-POINT)
BY GEORGE ELBERT BURR
that each proof shall be “pulled” by himself, thus
avoiding the dangers of ordinary mechanical
colour printing.
These dangers are of necessity eliminated in
work which, as Mr. Burr’s, demands the continual
artistic skill and ability of the artist himself.
Moreover, it is not difficult to see how, every print
requiring a separate printing of the plate, a great
variety of effort will be found in the various proofs
of any one plate. This lends a certain atmosphere
of novelty and permits a large range of treatment
in a plate, by which it may be made to represent
the same scene at different hours or seasons.
Mr. Burr’s colours in this work are distinguished
may hold. Large spaces, requiring massed colour,
are bitten away through a resin or sulphur ground,
and the innumerable projections serve to retain
the pigment. In soft-ground work, Mr. Burr has
produced a decided novelty in his Evening, Lake
Geneva. The entire plate was etched in soft-
ground, no needle line being used, and the result
(in a subdued blue) is extremely beautiful.
Few proofs are printed from a given plate,
owing to the rapid deterioration of the lines under
pressure. Mr. Burr never steel-faces his work,
considering that it would suffer from the metallic
rigidity of the steel line.
The printing is always done on moistened paper
XII