ARGOS
Studio/Gallery
Etchings and Paintings
ARGOS 9th Annual Historical Prints Exhibit -- The Landscape in Printmaking
Exhibit December 5th - January 2nd, 2015
Image Pages:
Precursors
French Etching Revival
English Etching Revival
German Etching Revival
American Etching Revival
Historical context (here)
The Etching Revival in 19th century Europe and America revitalized the art of intaglio printmaking. The 18th century had seen a proliferation of reproductive practices in etching and engraving, and while this served markets for facsimiles of other artworks, it stifled interest in original prints. With exceptions such as Tiepolo and Goya, the paradigm of the painter-printmaker, exemplified by numerous artists from Durer through Rembrandt, faded through the 1700s. An initial impulse of the Etching Revival was to redefine and restore the intaglio print as an original work of art.
The French artist Charles Jacque had started his career as an illustrator making wood-engraving prints. By the 1830s he was teaching himself etching in the style of Ostade and Rembrandt. His subjects resonated with the new mid-century French taste for naturalism. Moving to rural Barbizon, he joined painters such as Millet, Rousseau, Daubigny, Huet and Corot in moving away from Academic style, and embracing the provincial landscape treated with a natural realism. Under his influence, a connection was forged between the Barbizon movement and Dutch-style printmaking; the Etching Revival was begun.
The results were dramatic. On one hand, exceptional drawing skills of the artists of the time found natural expression in the intaglio print; etching is often an ideal showcase for great draftsmanship. On the other hand, a large middle-class audience in France was immediately receptive to the medium. It was also receptive to the lure of owning affordable art by the hand of well-known artists, all much as Rembrandt had known in his time.
The landscape-driven etchings of the Barbizon School reached Paris quickly. Auguste Delatre, a Jacque-trained printer of etching plates, teamed with the publisher Cadart to found the Society of Etchers and distributed the latest prints to an eager public. The young Whistler started his career with a suite of etchings he produced at Delatre’s studio, and had a part in bringing the Revival to England. Many of the younger generation of Impressionist painters, influenced by Barbizon plein air values, also worked in intaglio to reach a wider audience. Meanwhile, in Germany, a tradition of reproductive etching placed the highest technical skills into the hands of a new generation of landscape printmakers, who likewise favored a naturalistic style. And finally, post Civil War America announced it had joined the Etching Revival with the founding of the New York Etching Club in 1877.
This exhibit presents a survey of the landscape print, with an emphasis on work from the Etching Revival in all its various national expressions. Examples of the landscape in prints from as early as the 16th century are on exhibit, as are examples of the 17th century styles that informed Jacque’s work. 20th century landscape etchings, as well as contemporary work from the Santa Fe Etching Club, round out the exhibit. A careful observer can see many of the influences that helped to shape the early Taos artists and the founding landscape tradition of the Santa Fe art colony.
Image Pages:
Precursors
French Etching Revival
English Etching Revival
German Etching Revival
American Etching Revival
Historical context (here)
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