International studio (82.1925)

mceRnAcionAL

Tvendin "American Book Illustration

CT~"he last quarter of The modern movement the drawing be adapted to

]_ the nineteenth cen- toward fine book - making the type or the type be se"

tury brought interest- ^ aroused in Qur lustra- ]ftsf with the rererencf t0

mg changes and develop- , • , »'.-"/-' / the drawing, is a secondary

. • a • k i tors an interest in Line work •. .• T,

ment in American book- consideration, lhe neces-
illustration. With the Fr?ank We ite nkamp f sity for harmony is impcra-

introduction of the half- tively there. It brings with

tone came painted, instead of drawn, illustration, it the demand for drawing in line, not in tone

Moreover, the illustration could be painted in any (painted or washed), since typography is really

size, to be reduced by process. These were factors drawing in line, and the proper direction of har-

that inevitably, and strongly, drew the illustrator mony is thus established.

away from contact with the book per se, bringing I always like to quote the happy saying of W.
him out of relation with the printed page. A. Dwiggins, to the effect that we like line drawing
Too often he has been removed also from the in book illustration because it, like typography,
author's text, sometimes with a ludicrous de- makes effective use of the white of the paper to
parture from the significance of the words, often gain its results. Are there artists who feel an irk-
without any real attempt to enter into the spirit some restriction in all this; an unworthy fettering
of the writer. That, however, is another matter, of their individuality? Is it not a poor soul that
and indicates a condition that has existed without cannot play team-work with others, that cannot
any reference to the manner of reproduction of the do its stint, and do it well, within the limits set by
artist's work. It implies something wrong with conditions and material—by the "medium," as we
the illustrator's attitude toward his job, and con- say—in all the arts, in all work, in life itself? Has
cerns us here only in ,llustration by edward a. wilson Goethe's saying, that
so far as such an atti- for "iron men and wooden ships" the true master is evi-

Iustrator,' which,' froiii the fifteenth century^

this standpoint, should BB^^^tftfifll Wood engraving being

obviously be executed a relief process like

with reference to the | typography, the cuts

type used. Whether ^inMiiinni..........mwinirm—hmi...........i iiiiiiii inn.......'........i.......i------^JsSmmm could be printed at

december I925

one ninety-nine