Acrobatics

“ Still, at least, they give us acrobats, and the acrobat is an artist. The mere fact that he never speaks to the audience shows how well he appreciates the great truth that the aim of art is not to reveal personality but to please. The clown may be blatant, but the acrobat is always beautiful. He is an interesting combination of the spirit of Greek sculpture with the spangles of the modern costumier. He has even had his niche in the novels of our age, and if Manette Salomon be the unmasking of the model, Les Frères Zemganno is the apotheosis of the acrobat. ”

“ With more artless inquisitiveness than fear, this lively little acrobat stops his hammering or hatcheting at your approach, and stretching himself out from the tree until it would seem he must fall off, he peers down at you, head downward, straight into your upturned opera-glasses. ”

“ These acrobats, slim and handsome, as Huck Finn found them, in their "shirts and drawers," may display their daring and their grace, standing on a circling steed or swinging from a flying trapeze, revolving on a horizontal bar or building themselves up into human pyramids on the bark of the arena; but, except for the sake of variety, the way in which they may choose to exhibit their skill and to show themselves is unimportant. ”

“ At the time most of our famous old masters were painting, photography was unknown and the first etchings and engravings were laboriously done by hand and usually by the artists themselves. Now, the time and expense of hand work are so great that, although the important lines are still put in by hand, yet the camera plays an essential part in most etchings and engravings. Originally the artist drew direct on the steel, copper, or wood block, but as the drawing must be reversed, it required a great deal of skill to do this. ”

“ ENGRAVINGS, ETCHINGS, PRINTS When we visit an art gallery we find pictures in all mediums—oil, water color, pastel, charcoal, pencil, pen and ink; and then farther on we find photographs, etchings, engravings (steel, copper, and wood) , and lithographs.
It takes much careful study and practice before we can expect to recognize the medium or process used. Most of us recognize water color, oil, pencil, charcoal, and pastel work, but prints made from engravings, etchings, and photographic plates are more difficult to distinguish. ”

“ Acrobats and gymnasts can give the young painter infinite suggestions, for they bring into their art an element of swiftness of motion and of constant change that the studio model necessarily lacks. What is interesting in these ‘slaves of the ring’ is that with them Beauty is an unconscious result not a conscious aim, the result in fact of the mathematical calculation of curves and distances, of absolute precision of eye, of the scientific knowledge of the equilibrium of forces, and of perfect physical training. A good acrobat is always graceful, though grace is never his object ”

“ If woodcut were dubbed the democrat among the graphic arts, certainly engraving must be called the aristocrat of the family. It originates in the goldsmith’s workshop, amidst a guild of skilled designers, who not unfrequently practice painting together with their craft. No wonder that in such hands engraving should shape itself along artistic lines from the start. ”

“ Everybody knows something of engraving, as of printing, with which it was associated in origin. School-books, illustrated papers, and shop windows are the ordinary opportunities open to all. But while creating a transient interest, or, perhaps, quickening the taste, they furnish little with regard to the art itself, especially in other days. And yet, looking at an engraving, like looking at a book, may be the beginning of a new pleasure and a new study. ”

“ One result of the discovery of the calotype will be, we doubt not, the production of completer treatises on perspective than have yet been given to the world. Another very curious result will be, in all probability, a new mode of design for the purposes of the engraver, especially for all the illustrations of books. For a large class of works the labours of the artist bid fair to be restricted to the composition of tableaux vivants, which it will be the part of the photographer to fix, and then transfer to the engraver. ”

“ WE WISH to supplement the preceding pages with a chapter on the technic of wood engraving, and a few words about kindred arts which are of special consequence to the illustrator-printer. The art of wood engraving I consider one of the most valuable things for the illustrator-printer to learn. True, this art is going out of use because of its tediousness; and, it must be confessed, if you wish a picture of a building in your paper, it is much more economical and you can get a better result if you make a pen drawing and send it to be photo-engraved, than if you engrave it on wood. ”

“ The proportionate reduction of pictures for engraving also demands exquisite skill and accurate draughtsmanship in which the eye and hand of the artist may be distinctly traced.
Thus, by a laborious yet picturesque and harmonious interpretation of the artist's creations, the engraver renders their reproduction possible, widens the sphere of their interest and influence, and in many instances procures for them a world-wide reputation. ”

“ The Illustrator.—The employment of wood engravings in conjunction with literature created a new phase of artistic work. The task of the illustrator or designer is peculiar. He sketches out his design on the wood block, and then passes it on to the engraver. His drawing is not intended as a permanent form of pictorial art, but as a suggestive sketch, which, while perfectly intelligible to the engraver, will be free from such intricacies in its composition as might interfere with its effective interpretation. ”

“ As the wood-engraver grew proficient in his technique, he widened his field by imitating the effect of etching or engraving on copper, in rivalry with this form of illustration. In this he succeeded so well that the other, more expensive modes of adornment were largely driven from the field of book illustration. With the advent of photography, the design could be fixed upon the wood block mechanically, accurately, without the trouble of a careful drawing. The values of tone in the photograph relieved the engraver from the work of translating color-values into black and white. ”

“ Execution, as the term implies, is the direct result of individual dexterity; the ability to interpret colour, tone, and texture of a picture by an arrangement of lines of varying depth and fineness; the ability also to imitate, or even create, pictorial expression.
The work of the engraver, like many other phases of reproductive art, is a fruitful source of mannerisms; yet even these will produce excellent results if they create innovations which will be afterwards approved and recognised as healthy, independent, and entirely original methods.
[55]
Fig. ”

“ The earliest glass, therefore, and the latest, the best and the worst, may alike be termed pictorial. The difference is in the conception as to what constituted a picture, say, in the thirteenth century and the seventeenth. It all depends upon the kind of picture attempted.
Archaic art aims already at nature. We probably do not give the early painter credit enough for his intention of rendering natural things naturally. In part at least the stiffness of his design comes from lack of skill, and often where we find him quaint he meant no doubt to be perfectly serious and matter-of-fact. ”

“ To reproduce in miniature, by means of the half-tone engraver's art, pictures that were intended to meet the eye, enriched by color and projected in a darkened auditorium, is to reduce mountains to mole-hills and to dim the brilliancy of nature to a sober gray. ”

“ From an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally important features. It translates the artist's work with extraordinary facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any other process. ”

“ In the rare cases where the book-plate remains fixed in the book to which it originally belonged, some little assistance may be derived as to its date and possible ownership, and at least one point may be settled with tolerable certainty, namely, that the engraving has really been intended for, and has served as, an ex-libris; whereas, when once extracted from its book, many an early armorial ex-libris may be easily mistaken for a woodcut used on a dedication, or for an illustration extracted from some old treatise on heraldry. ”

“ The illustrative history of the ancient Egyptians does not point to a time before the reed was used as a pen. The various sculptures, carvings, pottery and paintings, exhibit the scribes at work in their avocations, recording details about the hands and ears of slaughtered enemies, the numbers of captives, the baskets of wheat, the numerous animals, the tribute, the treaties and the public records. These ancient scribes employed a cylindrical box for ink, with writing tablets, which were square sections of wood with lateral grooves to hold the small reeds for writing. ”

“ This was the origin of illumination or miniature-painting, which went on from one step to another until, at its highest state, most beautiful pictures were painted in manuscripts in which rich colors were used on gold or silver backgrounds, and the effect of the whole was as rich and ornamental as it is possible to imagine.
Many of these old manuscripts are seen in museums, libraries, and various collections; they are very precious and costly, as well as interesting; their study is fascinating, for almost every one of the numberless designs that are used in them has its own symbolic meaning. ”

“ Many regard this plate as the greatest engraving of the century. In a manner typical of those pomp-loving times, the eminent churchman is represented amidst columns and sweeping draperies. Here, indeed, we have the last word of technical resourcefulness in expanses of gorgeous silks and delicate laces, and many other textures and substances. If one should feel that all this elaboration of the setting distracts the attention from the portrait itself, he must blame the epoch and the painter whose design the engraver needs must follow. ”

“ The means at his disposal were lines and dots, which, varying in their thickness and proximity, expressed dark or light passages in the scheme of light and shade of the original. It will readily be understood how such interpretations would vary. An engraver with fine art instincts would produce a result as distinct in character as an engraving as was the original as a painting or drawing, and engravings were sought after as works of art, and treasured for their artistic qualities. ”

“ Outline, light and shade, variety of style and representation of surfaces, are all within the engraver's control, and a vast diversity of expression will be requisite for their realisation. It is quite within his power also to interpret the artist's thoughts as well as imitate his style, and this involves not only a judicious balancing of tone and texture, but a knowledge of the principles of art embodied in the picture—his copy. ”

“ In proportion as, by its very nature, photography is powerless to take the place of engraving, when the work to be reproduced, be it picture or mural decoration, presupposes in the interpreter, in whatsoever degree, the power of translating what is before him, just so far is it capable of fulfilling the one condition imposed upon the copyist of a242 drawing or an engraving—that of perfect fidelity in imitation. ”

“ For the benefit of those who do not know, “A Human Fly” is an acrobat who makes a specialty of scaling tall buildings, simply clinging to the apertures or crevices of the outward architecture of such building for the edification of an assembled throng, for which he receives a plate collection, a salary or is engaged especially for publicity purposes. ”

“ In the same performance a female acrobat made a backward dive from the topmost point of the building into a net stretched about ten feet above the floor. Nearly every large acrobatic entertainment has one of these individuals who seem to experience no difficulty in duplicating their feats night after night.
It is a common belief that people falling from great heights die in the act of descent. ”

“ The illustration of the engraver on wood which appears in the same Book of Trades puts before us a man in a richer dress, plainly a workman of higher grade than the stencil painter. He seems to be tracing outlines on the block. The technical accessories about this engraver are the same as those in use at this day—the graver, the whetstone, and, possibly, a water globe lens in the corner near the window casement.29 p095
Playing cards and engraving on wood bear to each other a curious relation. ”

“ The history of block-printing and that of pictorial engraving are necessarily linked together, for, given a pictorial art as well as a literature in a nation that has just brought into use the art of printing from engraved blocks, a picture would be executed as readily as a letter or ideographic character, and would be cut on the wood whenever the need of such an illustration of the text might chance to suggest itself. ”

“ As there is no question that “the handwork of the artist” can be seen more clearly through 58 mechanical engraving than through wood engraving, it behoves him to do his best. And as we are substituting process blocks for wood engraving in every direction, so we should take over some of the patience and care which were formerly given to book illustrations. ”

“ Nobody but an acrobat will voluntarily spend years at such a difficult mechanical puzzle as the keyboard, and so we have to take our impressions of Beethoven’s sonatas from acrobats who vie with each other in the rapidity of their prestos, or the staying power of their left wrists. ”