From the category archives:

Technique

“Le degré de perfection des productions de l’imprimerie d’un pays est une des marques de son degré de civilisation.” Printing in Japan, ca. 1915.

by Admin on April 4, 2011

in Color,Design,Graphic Design,Illustration,Japan,Photography,Print making,Printing,Technique,Typography

Sawada, Yozo. Insatsu Taikan (Great Atlas of Printing).  Unpaginated album.  Sm. folio.  Silk-covered boards, tie-bound.  Osaka (Nihon Insatsu Kaisha) 1915.  [46467]

Following the death of his father, the Meiji Emperor, on July 30, 1912, Crown Prince Yoshihito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan to become the Taishō Emperor. After three years of Imperial preparations, Yoshihito’s public coronation took place in November of 1915.  The leaders of industries which had thrived during the Meiji period of modernization wisely turned out to pay tribute to the young monarch.  Proud of their accomplishments during his father’s reign, Japanese printers and publishers marked the occasion with lavish commemorative publications.  Insatsu Taikan—the Great Atlas of Printing—showcases the remarkable quality and innovation of printing in Japan, ca. 1915.

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Compositions for Silk Damask & Other Fabrics (homage to Morton Feldman)

by Admin on February 8, 2011

in Color,Design,Fashion,Technique,Textiles

(Fabric weaving manuscript).- Felix, M. & J. Mercier. Cahier de Théorie 4e Année 3e. N.p. (Lyon?) n.d. (circa 1895). [44915]

Though we know little about the person who composed it (“J. Mercier,” seemingly a student in the 4th-year class of  one “Professeur M. Felix”), Cahier de Théorie 4e Année 3e offers a rich window into the world of industrial fabric design in turn-of-the-century Lyon—once  a world capital of silk production.

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Felix Vallotton’s Reinvention of the Woodcut

by Admin on February 1, 2011

in 19th-Century,Art,Print making,Technique

Meier-Graefe, Julius. Felix Vallotton, Biographie: Des Kuenstlers nebst dem Wichtigsten teil seines Bisher Publicierten Werkes & Einer Anzahl Unedierter Originalplatten; De Cet Artiste avec la Partie la Plus Importante de son Oeuvre Editee et Differentes Gravures Originales & Nouvelles. Berlin/Paris (J. A. Stargardt/Edmond Sagot) n.d. (ca. 1898).  Freitag 12821. [41835]

Painter, playwright, critic and man of society—Felix Vallotton applied his talents broadly.  For a single decade at the end of the 19th-century, however, he enjoyed fame above all else as a print maker.  Vallotton’s boldly reductive approach to the woodcut is credited by many art historians of his time (and ours) as having modernized and revitalized the form in Western art.

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International Sign Painters of the World, Unite and Take Over.

August 26, 2010

Arrenbrecht, Wilhelm. Der Schriftenmaler.  Internationales Schriften-Vorlage-Werk. Cologne, ca. 1895.  [46260] Once upon a time, merchants hoping to make a good impression on potential customers didn’t hire graphical user interface consultants, they hired top-flight sign painters.  Elegant hand-painted lettering in a shop window announced to passers-by that the proprietor had class and sophistication.  Based on an […]

Edward Meneeley and the Advent of the Electrostatic Artist’s Print.

July 27, 2010

Meneeley, Edward. IBM Drawings. New York (Teuscher Editions) 1966.  (Teuscher Editions, 2).  All prints initialled and dated by the artist.  Folio number 10 from a total edition of 15. [45865] Meneeley, Edward.  Portraits: People and Objects. New York (Teuscher Editions) 1968. (Teuscher Editions, 3). All prints initialled and dated (1967) by the artist.  Folio number […]

A 19th-Century Crayon and Watercolor Instruction Book

October 15, 2009

Couleru.  Nouveau Cours Élémentaire de Coloris et d’Aquarelle: Suivi de Considérations sur la Peinture Orientale. Paris (Monrocq Freres) n.d. (circa 1860).  [45699] These charming images come from Nouveau Cours Élémentaire de Coloris et d’Aquarelle, an illustrated course of instruction in watercolor and crayon techniques for children and young adults. After an eight-page introduction offering 12 […]