DOI Heft:
No. 255 (July 1914)
DOI Artikel:Salaman, Malcolm C.: The colour-prints of Edward L. Lawrenson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21210#0108
The Colour-Prints of E. L. Lawrenson
A |"~^ HE COLO U R -PRINTS O F colour, but were invariably printed in coloured inks
I^DWARD L LAWRENSON BY on'-v altcr t'11' P^ates ^ad become too much worn to
A MALCOLM C SALAMAN give good monochrome impressions, the modern
original colour-prints are conceived from the
If one happens to speak of modern colour-prints beginning in terms of colour. This was also the
to a collector of the eighteenth-century engravings way with the prints of Jacob Christopher Le Blon,
printed in colours, he invariably tells one that he the pioneer of true colour-engraving a couple o|
does not care for them, that they cannot be hundred years ago, and it was the principle and
compared with the old ones. A little talk at practice of the French colour-engravers of the
cross-purposes will soon show that we are think- eighteenth century. Their method of printing
ing of quite different things. His idea of a from a number of super-imposed aquatint plates,
modern colour-print is a copy of an old mezzo- generally with outlines of soft-ground etching, is in
tint engraving after Reynolds, Romney or Hoppner ; fact the same practically as that adopted to-day by-
he neither knows nor imagines any other. And one many of the makers of colour-prints,
sees this idea encouraged now and again by Of these not the least interesting and successful
references in newspaper reports of the sales at is Mr. Edward L. Lawrenson, some of whose recent
Christie's to the growing popularity of the modern prints are reproduced here. A painter first and
coloured engraving, asso-
ciated generally with the
name of Mr. Sidney Wilson.
But the modern colour-print
of vital artistic interest has
nothing to do with these
coloured copies of old mez-
zotints ; it is an original
work of art produced en-
tirely by the brain and hand
of the artist. And this
makes it so difficult for the
ordinary collector of old
prints to realise; for he is
rarely called upon to ap-
proach prints from a fresh
artistic standpoint. Fashion
and Christie's have labelled
all the old favourites for
him ; but fashion and
Christie's have as yet had
nothing to say to the modern
movement in colour-engrav-
ing as a medium of original
pictorial expression. Yet
this movement is of genuine
artistic significance and it is
constantly revealing new
developments in the rela-
tions of medium and expres-
sion. One vital difference
between the old English
colour-prints and the new—
apart from the generally
reproductive character of
the old—is that whereas the
old were never designed for "the gateway or the house of rabelais, chinos." by e. l. lawrenson
88
A |"~^ HE COLO U R -PRINTS O F colour, but were invariably printed in coloured inks
I^DWARD L LAWRENSON BY on'-v altcr t'11' P^ates ^ad become too much worn to
A MALCOLM C SALAMAN give good monochrome impressions, the modern
original colour-prints are conceived from the
If one happens to speak of modern colour-prints beginning in terms of colour. This was also the
to a collector of the eighteenth-century engravings way with the prints of Jacob Christopher Le Blon,
printed in colours, he invariably tells one that he the pioneer of true colour-engraving a couple o|
does not care for them, that they cannot be hundred years ago, and it was the principle and
compared with the old ones. A little talk at practice of the French colour-engravers of the
cross-purposes will soon show that we are think- eighteenth century. Their method of printing
ing of quite different things. His idea of a from a number of super-imposed aquatint plates,
modern colour-print is a copy of an old mezzo- generally with outlines of soft-ground etching, is in
tint engraving after Reynolds, Romney or Hoppner ; fact the same practically as that adopted to-day by-
he neither knows nor imagines any other. And one many of the makers of colour-prints,
sees this idea encouraged now and again by Of these not the least interesting and successful
references in newspaper reports of the sales at is Mr. Edward L. Lawrenson, some of whose recent
Christie's to the growing popularity of the modern prints are reproduced here. A painter first and
coloured engraving, asso-
ciated generally with the
name of Mr. Sidney Wilson.
But the modern colour-print
of vital artistic interest has
nothing to do with these
coloured copies of old mez-
zotints ; it is an original
work of art produced en-
tirely by the brain and hand
of the artist. And this
makes it so difficult for the
ordinary collector of old
prints to realise; for he is
rarely called upon to ap-
proach prints from a fresh
artistic standpoint. Fashion
and Christie's have labelled
all the old favourites for
him ; but fashion and
Christie's have as yet had
nothing to say to the modern
movement in colour-engrav-
ing as a medium of original
pictorial expression. Yet
this movement is of genuine
artistic significance and it is
constantly revealing new
developments in the rela-
tions of medium and expres-
sion. One vital difference
between the old English
colour-prints and the new—
apart from the generally
reproductive character of
the old—is that whereas the
old were never designed for "the gateway or the house of rabelais, chinos." by e. l. lawrenson
88