Studio: international art (55.1912)

New School of Colour-Printing

and thus, in his experimental efforts to satisfy his
own colour-sense and sensitiveness to tone, he
will probably produce a series of prints, differing
perhaps appreciably, or perhaps only subtly, any
one of which may appeal to the individual taste of
a particular collector. A very important matter
this; for the fact is, the artist-printer can never
exactly reproduce his work, and consequently each
proof is to all intents and purposes an original
work of art, and not a mere piece of craftsmanship.

This article, however, is not concerned with the
various forms of colour-printing exemplified in the
exhibitions of the society just named, but rather
with the teaching of that particular method of en-
graving metal plates for colour-impressions which,
after some ten years of experiments and experience,
Mr. William Lee Hankey has found produces the
best results. His method is that by which, with a
key-plate bearing the etched outline of the
design—soft ground being generally used
because of its sympathetic quality—the
colour is conveyed by a number of separate
plates on each of which is aquatinted that
portion of the design required to take a
particular tint. This is, of course, true
colour-printing, and it must in no sense be
confounded with that questionable thing
the line-etching that has been adven-
titiously embellished with tints, whereas
its artistic raison d'etre is its suggestive
power in monochrome.

But now, without more preface, let us
make our way to the School of Colour-
Printing, at 26 St. Peter’s Square, Hammer-
smith, where we shall find Mr. Lee Hankey
and his able and enthusiastic collaborator,

Mr. Nelson Dawson, busily engaged in
teaching a number of earnest students, in-
cluding some who, like themselves, have
won distinction as painters, how to express
themselves through the medium of the
colour-print.

Here, as we go from room to room, we
shall see the key-plate in preparation, one
student, perhaps, drawing his design on
the thin paper stretched over a soft-
grounded plate, while another has reached
the acid-bath stage, and Mr. Lee Hankey
stops to tell him, among other useful
things, that, as a general rule, the older the
acid is, the better for use. Next, we shall
visit the room where the dust-boxes are,
for laying the aquatint ground, and here
we shall learn one or two very important
182

matters. In the first place, although there is no
doubt that a spirit ground, such as the old English
aquatinters used, produces by far the most
beautiful results, the uncertainties of the London
atmosphere make it exceedingly difficult to obtain.
The air must be dry, warm, and clear; damp and
dust being fatal to spirit grounds that can be relied
upon for evenness of tones required. Therefore, at
present the dust ground, which, by the way, the old
French aquatinters chiefly used, is that generally
employed at the School of Colour-Printing. And
here there are differences in producing the ground,
resulting from experience. When a rich, deep
ground is required, powdered asphaltum is used, as
being less likely to crumble away from the action of
the acid. For a lighter ground, however, powdered
resin is preferred, since it produces a ground which
is more easily fixed. Less heat is required for this,

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