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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