DOI Heft:
Nr. 211 (October 1910)
DOI Artikel:Salaman, Malcolm C.: The mezzotints of Mr. Frank Short, A.R.A., P.R.E.
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0033
Mr. Frank Short's Mezzotints
pletely as my medium will allow, to interpret the
painter’s conception. I do not think a man can
be a good interpretative engraver unless he has a
pretty strong imagination ; indeed, unless he can
paint fairly well himself he will never make a fine
interpretative engraver. From the practice of
sketching and painting, he will carry colour and
tone in his memory to help him, when treating
form in black-and-white, with the suggested interest
of colour.”
Mr. Short holds that a good mezzotint-
engraver must know his tools, and he himself
not only knows, but makes, his tools — his
own and his pupils’ also. Another thing: he
“ rocks ” his plates himself, as, he rightly thinks,
every mezzotinter should be able to do, consider-
ing how important it is to have an intimate know-
ledge of his ground. Although it may not be
necessary to rock for himself an even ground,
which may very well be done for him by a specially
trained man, yet, if he wishes to use the grounding
tools to the full advantage, choosing his tools and
varying his pressure as occasion requires, he must
be a master of handling them himself. Mr. Short
rocks his plates “ full,” according to the quality
of the copper, from thirty-six to fifty ways, and
he has rocked as many as eighty. Sometimes,
as in the Orpheus and Eurydice and the Endy-
mion of Watts, he has rocked with different tools,
fine and coarse. In the Orpheus this artifice
was used to give delicacy to the fading form ot
Eurydice, while the hand and arm of Orpheus
were rocked vigorously with a coarse tool, not by
a “ texture ” tool, be it noted, such as was used
by Samuel Cousins and his school, but for strong
“ full ” rocking right from the beginning.
The steel-facing of copper-plates has become a
matter of keen controversy, and Mr. Short is one
of its strongest advocates, confident, after many
tests, that there is no recognizable difference
between a proof from the copper and one from
the plate after steel-facing. Yet the advantage of
the latter in printing is great. From the copper,
Mr. Short tells me, he can print only about 30
proofs of fine quality, as they could in Turner’s
day, while from the same plate, with a steel facing
of an absolutely imperceptible thickness, he can
print from 50 to 150 brilliant impressions. This
is, of course, of no little importance, especially
since one may hope that, if the insistent collectors
“via mala” (after turner)
BY FRANK SHORT, A.R.A., P.R.E.
12
pletely as my medium will allow, to interpret the
painter’s conception. I do not think a man can
be a good interpretative engraver unless he has a
pretty strong imagination ; indeed, unless he can
paint fairly well himself he will never make a fine
interpretative engraver. From the practice of
sketching and painting, he will carry colour and
tone in his memory to help him, when treating
form in black-and-white, with the suggested interest
of colour.”
Mr. Short holds that a good mezzotint-
engraver must know his tools, and he himself
not only knows, but makes, his tools — his
own and his pupils’ also. Another thing: he
“ rocks ” his plates himself, as, he rightly thinks,
every mezzotinter should be able to do, consider-
ing how important it is to have an intimate know-
ledge of his ground. Although it may not be
necessary to rock for himself an even ground,
which may very well be done for him by a specially
trained man, yet, if he wishes to use the grounding
tools to the full advantage, choosing his tools and
varying his pressure as occasion requires, he must
be a master of handling them himself. Mr. Short
rocks his plates “ full,” according to the quality
of the copper, from thirty-six to fifty ways, and
he has rocked as many as eighty. Sometimes,
as in the Orpheus and Eurydice and the Endy-
mion of Watts, he has rocked with different tools,
fine and coarse. In the Orpheus this artifice
was used to give delicacy to the fading form ot
Eurydice, while the hand and arm of Orpheus
were rocked vigorously with a coarse tool, not by
a “ texture ” tool, be it noted, such as was used
by Samuel Cousins and his school, but for strong
“ full ” rocking right from the beginning.
The steel-facing of copper-plates has become a
matter of keen controversy, and Mr. Short is one
of its strongest advocates, confident, after many
tests, that there is no recognizable difference
between a proof from the copper and one from
the plate after steel-facing. Yet the advantage of
the latter in printing is great. From the copper,
Mr. Short tells me, he can print only about 30
proofs of fine quality, as they could in Turner’s
day, while from the same plate, with a steel facing
of an absolutely imperceptible thickness, he can
print from 50 to 150 brilliant impressions. This
is, of course, of no little importance, especially
since one may hope that, if the insistent collectors
“via mala” (after turner)
BY FRANK SHORT, A.R.A., P.R.E.
12