DOI issue:
Nr. 144 (March 1905)
DOI article:Newbolt, Frank: The etchings of Alfred East
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20711#0151
The Etchings of A If red East
"A CORNER OF A COPPICE" FROM THE ETCHING BY ALFRED EAST
drawing. Why make a thousand little strokes knowledge, and power of arrangement which we
when one will do ? Etching should give the maxi- should expect from his skill and experience. Now
mum result with the minimum of means. It is a and then, one of these rough sketches, or, perhaps,
purely artificial and conventional art, in which form two or three in combination, suggest a good subject
must suggest the colour which it cannot express ; for an etching. A plate is prepared, a rough
but it has a richness of its own which is denied to outline painted on the wax in water-colour, white
the pencil and the pen. This quality can be used or red, to keep in mind the general scheme of
in producing textures and surfaces, as in Rem- design upon which so much depends, and then the
brandt's Shell and Sleeping Negress, in Jacquemart's etcher revisits the chosen spot with his plate in its
jewels and porcelain, in Meissonier's figures, and boarded frame, and possibly a bottle of acid for use
in portraiture, but it is of equal or greater value in in some secluded barn. The work is all, or nearly
landscape. all, done in the open air, so that the first inspiration
The method adopted by Mr. East in these later is preserved' ; and though lines may be added after-
plates is not only simple, but by its simplicity it wards, and some stopping out is nearly always
defies the competition of those who are not also necessary, there is never any suggestion that an
capable, at least, of being painters of distinction, error has been made which has been or must be
It is only the best conjurers who can juggle without corrected. It is the certainty of design, supported
wide sleeves. Etching is for him a recreation, and by experience in drawing, that places this kind of
as he paints he keeps ready a large sketch-book, in etching in a class by itself, beyond the scope of
which, as opportunity serves, he makes rapid notes ordinary etchers. It need hardly be said that a
of trees. These show, of course, the great facility, vivid impression of outline is essential, and that
135
"A CORNER OF A COPPICE" FROM THE ETCHING BY ALFRED EAST
drawing. Why make a thousand little strokes knowledge, and power of arrangement which we
when one will do ? Etching should give the maxi- should expect from his skill and experience. Now
mum result with the minimum of means. It is a and then, one of these rough sketches, or, perhaps,
purely artificial and conventional art, in which form two or three in combination, suggest a good subject
must suggest the colour which it cannot express ; for an etching. A plate is prepared, a rough
but it has a richness of its own which is denied to outline painted on the wax in water-colour, white
the pencil and the pen. This quality can be used or red, to keep in mind the general scheme of
in producing textures and surfaces, as in Rem- design upon which so much depends, and then the
brandt's Shell and Sleeping Negress, in Jacquemart's etcher revisits the chosen spot with his plate in its
jewels and porcelain, in Meissonier's figures, and boarded frame, and possibly a bottle of acid for use
in portraiture, but it is of equal or greater value in in some secluded barn. The work is all, or nearly
landscape. all, done in the open air, so that the first inspiration
The method adopted by Mr. East in these later is preserved' ; and though lines may be added after-
plates is not only simple, but by its simplicity it wards, and some stopping out is nearly always
defies the competition of those who are not also necessary, there is never any suggestion that an
capable, at least, of being painters of distinction, error has been made which has been or must be
It is only the best conjurers who can juggle without corrected. It is the certainty of design, supported
wide sleeves. Etching is for him a recreation, and by experience in drawing, that places this kind of
as he paints he keeps ready a large sketch-book, in etching in a class by itself, beyond the scope of
which, as opportunity serves, he makes rapid notes ordinary etchers. It need hardly be said that a
of trees. These show, of course, the great facility, vivid impression of outline is essential, and that
135