Studio: international art (57.1913)

Studio-Talk

Mrs. Lum possesses in an unusual degree
that rare gift—priceless to the artist—good
colour-sense, combined with an instinctive
grasp of composition, and as a medium for
their expression has chosen the process of
block printing rather than water-colour.
Composition is the keynote of the old
print. The wonderful faculty of seizing
on the best combination of landscape and
figure possessed by the master makers of
the old-day prints would appear to have
descended to Mrs. Lum, who, proceeding
along lines both new and original, has pro-
duced prints that for depth of tone and
atmospheric effect can be compared only to
some dreamy pastel rather than the flat and
soulless print of modern Japan.

surface to work on, the printer has to press so
hard on the block that colour is rubbed off, pro-
ducing a thin effect on the print. It has been
reserved for Mrs. Lum, by paying the greatest
attention to the laying on of colours, to obtain from
the modern materials that depth of tone that is so
truly an admirable feature of the old productions.
By a process of reprinting with a good deal of
water it has been found possible to produce the
effect desired, the result being a depth of colour and
warmth of tone that has delighted all lovers of block
printing. Added to this technical skill are a grace of
composition and an atmosphere all her own, instinct
with the thought and inspiration of to-day, this
combination serving to bridge the space separating
block printing from the water-colour drawing.

The block printing of olden times was a

In the old days the paper was soft
and of rather loose texture, allowing the
colour to soak through in a manner that
gave it depth. Nowadays, with a harder
I72

“fishermen” from a wood print BY BERTHA I.UM

along lines suggested by her own genius in new and
original directions while adhering to the procedure
that has come down through generations of block
printers from early days.

At the present time block printing is practically
obsolete save as a means of reproducing old prints.
In that branch several houses are doing rare and
wonderful work that cannot be too highly com-
mended, but as a mode of expressing modern ideas
the art may be said to be as good as dead. Block
printing is employed for advertisement purposes and
in the production of cheap prints as an economical
and effective method of obtaining certain desired
results, which, however, differ very considerably
from those shown in the olden days. Printed on
the unsuitable modern paper in colours that would
not have been tolerated by the ancient masters of
the art the productions of the twentieth-
century block printer are generally poor in
design and composition, and it is no wonder
that they fail to find favour when compared
with the old prints, excellent reproductions
of which can now so easily be obtained.

During the years Mrs. Lum has been
engaged in this work, in close touch with
artists and the art of block printing in Japan,
little original work has been produced and
no progress made; on the contrary, de-
terioration may be detected if the results
of the last five years are critically examined.