International studio (57.1915/1916)

Two New Methods in the Graphic Art

the ordinary etching processes, but Mr. Robbins
proved his qualifications. In full command of the
powers of nitric, he exhibited the infinite patience
and the untiring vigilance of the born etcher.
Mechanical skill and artistic judgment are taxed
almost equally in the making of a brulegravure
plate, and the extreme of care and calculation
required in the making of the print itself.
A visit to the brulegravure establishment of
Mr. Robbins, amidst the hills of the colonial
town of Farmington
in Connecticut, dis¬
closes a situation
that brings joy to
the heart of the print
lover. The shop
might bear the sign
of “the acid trail,”
so pledged is it to
the biting fluid and
its properties. Here
the etcher is making
prints on commission
for collectors in all
parts of the world,
and making new
plates for the illus-
tration of a volume
he plans to issue in
the near future. To
his series of original
designs representing
“Old Haunts and
Landmarks of Bos¬
ton,” the etcher is
adding a variety of
new subjects. From
his earliest brule¬
gravure plates Mr.
Robbins produced
some admirable re¬
productive prints—those after Rembrandt’s Sobi-
eski and one of the Sargent Prophets, of the
Boston Library decoration, being especially fine
from the standpoint of artistic rendering.
Although in its infancy, the brulegravure has
already won recognition. Examples have been
acquired for the great public print collections of
Paris, London, New York, and other leading
cities, as well as by many of the important
private collectors. Some of the leading print
authorities of the world have written the in-

ventor in glowing terms of anticipation for the
artistic future of the new process.
It is a fortunate circumstance that in this case
the inventor is an artist capable of using his
discovery in a manner destined to reflect lasting
honour upon his abilities, and to form a worthy
standard for those artists of the future who find
in his process a favourable mode of expression.
Print collectors will find a new outlet for ac-
quisitive zeal, and dealers a much desired novelty
in their rather re-
stricted field. The
rarity of brulegra-
vure production is
assured by the diffi-
culties that attend it.
Editions are there-
fore limited to one
hundred signed
proofs. Being a
“tonal” proposition
almost exclusively, it
will not yield easily
to the talents of the
line etcher, and it
will offer to the mez-
zotinter problems of
a strange order. To
one who will endure
the peculiar exac-
tions of the process,
it presents possibili-
ties most attractive
—the vigour obtain-
able, the simplicity
of mass effect, the
inevitable blend that
robs the strongest
contrasts of edginess,
are distinctly an en-
couragement to the
artist who possesses a powerful individuality.
At present, Mr. Robbins is the sole exponent of
the art of brulegravure, but he is modest enough
to assume that in other hands it may achieve an
expressional force to which he has not yet ap-
proached. We may assume on the other hand
that the discerning observer will admit that Mr.
Robbins himself has already shown considerable
force of artistic expression in handling the process
he has made so singularly his own.
James Britton.


A BRULEGRAVURE

BY JOHN W. ROBBINS

XXVII