Category Archives: Medium

mediums

Kupferstichkabinett

Paul Wunderlich (Eberswalde/Brandenburg 1927 – 2010 Saint-Pierre-de-Vassols), à deux, 1960. Farblithographie in 10 Farben, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett. Schenkung Dieter Brusberg, Berlin, 2010 Inv.-Nr. 2011-54

Thank you to Laura Giles, Heather and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970, Curator of Prints and Drawings, for mentioning a new online source for over 4,000 German, Netherlandish, and Italian old master drawings and 11,000 Italian prints from the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

“You are invited to stroll through the database of the Kupferstichkabinett, which you can access via the website of the Hamburger Kunsthalle: http://emp-web-48.zetcom.ch/eMuseumPlus. Over the next years . . . we will add another 120,000 works on paper to this pool of online data. For 2016 we are planning to include the last 20 % of our Italian prints as well as our collection of Spanish drawings, and major parts of our 19th-century German prints and drawings.”

Congratulations to Dr. Andreas Stolzenburg and Dr. David Klemm of the Leiter Kupferstichkabinett, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Glockengießerwall, Hamburg, Germany.

www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de
www.netzwerk-graphische-sammlungen.com

Albrecht Dürer (Nürnberg 1471 – 1528 Nürnberg), Adam und Eva, 1504. Kupferstich. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett Inv.-Nr. 10554

The Stage and its Stars

Miss Ellen Terry as Portia
Sarah Bernhardt as Mrs. Clarkson
Howard Paul (1835-1905), The Stage and its Stars Past and Present: a Gallery of Dramatic Illustration and Critical Biographies of Distinguished English and American Actors from the Time of Shakespeare till Today, edited by Howard Paul and George Gebbie; [with] 128 photogravure portraits and scenes from steel plates, and over 400 portraits in the text (Philadelphia: Gebbie, 1887). 28 parts unbound. Graphic Arts Collection GAX in process

The Merchant of Venice

“The work will contain in all 112 steel engravings, part by etching and part by photogravure, and about 500 engravings on wood. it will be issued in twenty-eight parts at one dollar each; each part will contain 4 steel plates; each plate will be accompanied by descriptive text, and each number will contain at least 8 pages of illustrated biography of the actors and history of the Stage. One number will be issued monthly until the whole is completed. no subscriber’s name will be taken for less than the entire work. the work is payable when delivered by our agents; no cash is to be paid in advance, and no credit given. We will guarantee that the work will be in every respect equal to the samples shown by our agents, and no representation outside this statement of terms and condition will be binding on the publishers.”–prospectus

Do you recognize this bookseller?

This plate turned up recently depicting a bookseller identified in four languages: Latin, French, German, and Russian. The woodcut on laid paper is number 75 from an unknown publication. If you recognize the source, please let us know.

Graphic Arts Collection Unidentified GC 079 box 4.

In Scripture Lands: New Views of Sacred Places

In 1882 the American journalist Edward Wilson traveled to the Middle East. His obituary described this as “the largest photographic expedition ever attempted in those countries, visiting and photographing through Egypt, Arabia and Palestine. Returning to America he utilized the vast source of pictorial material thus secured in the lecture field and in the preparation of articles for The Century and Scribner’s Magazine, His exploration of the buried city of Petra in Arabia was recognized by savants as a distinct achievement. In recognition of the value of his work in the East, as supplying lost links in Biblical history, the Washington and Jefferson College of Pennsylvania honored him with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.” —Wilson’s Photographic magazine July 1903.

Wilson’s glass negatives were transported and stored for ten months before printing yet the resulting prints are crisp and powerful. He published this print in his own magazine Wilson’s Photographic Magazine (previously The Philadelphia Photographer) with the following explanation:

We offer our readers this month another memento of our Nile travel. The picture before us is a view in the Nubian district. Sailing along the Nile towards the cataracts, there suddenly burst upon the astonished vision of the traveler one of the most lovely sights imaginable; a scene fantastic as a dream, an echo of the past reflected in the present. …The view before us was taken from the top of the famous temple of Isis, on the Island of Philae, and presents in the immediate foreground the ruined kiosk of their goddess, whose mysteries were worshiped over the whole of Egypt, and even found devout votaries among the most distinguished of the Greeks and Romans. Winding about this lovely gem; we see the Nile flowing in beautiful curves, and in the distance the Nubian hills. It may be of interest to know that the little steamboat which lies moored has since been lost.

The plates upon which the subject was made were six in number, every one of which turned out perfectly satisfactory, although the exposures were made in the month of January 1882 and not developed until the following October. Having survived all the vicissitudes of travel, they revealed to us again when placed in the developing tray, a renewed impression of the beautiful scene we had beheld, and we trust that our readers may gain an adequate idea of its loveliness from the beautiful print we present them in this number.

After a series of articles in Century Magazine, 150 of Wilson’s Middle Eastern photographs were engraved on wood and published by Scribner’s as In Scripture Lands: New Views of Sacred Places (1890). Firestone recap 1793.977

Actors prints

James Sheridan Knowles (1784-1862), Love chase. Julia Marlowe as Constance, no date, ca 1896. Photogravure. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2013.00296.

Thanks to research by the Library Company of Philadelphia, we know that George Gebbie (1832-1892) was a Philadelphia and New York bookseller and publisher of fine art books and prints. Gebbie immigrated to the United States in 1863 and resided in Utica, New York and New York City before locating to Philadelphia around 1866. Gebbie also formed the firms Gebbie & Barries (1873-1880) and Gebbie & Co. (1881-1907).

In 1887, he published a two-volume set of 128 photogravure actor portraits entitled The Stage and its Stars (Annex A, Forrestal Oversize 35771.702f). “A gallery of dramatic illustration and critical biographies of distinguished English and American Actors from the time of Shakespeare till to-day.” Many of these were produced and sold separately from his Philadelphia shop.

Here are a few.

John Philip Kemble as Cato. Cato – Act V. Scene 1 ([Philadelphia]: Gebbie & Co., no date). Photogravure. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2013.00293.

Ada Rehan & Miss Dreher as Mrs. Ford & Mistress Page. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act II. Scene. I ([Philadelphia] : Gebbie & Husson Co., no date). Photogravure. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2013.00272.

Edwin Booth as Hamlet, act III scene I ([Philadelphia]: Gebbie & Co., 1887). Photogravure. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2013.00287

It is interesting how similar the American photogravures are from the earlier English mezzotints. Here is a mezzotint by Thomas Goff Lupton (1791-1873) after a painting by George Henry Harlow (1787-1819), Charles Kemble, no date. Mezzotint. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2013.00284.

Grover Cleveland Caricature Revisited

With sincere thanks to Professor Anthony Chase, theater critic, columnist for Artvoice and The Public, and Assistant Dean in the School of Arts & Humanities, SUNY Buffalo State, we are reposting this lithograph cut from Judge magazine.

As Dr. Chase instructs, “If you look at the image, it clearly depicts President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) in blackface, with Senator Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland and Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard also in blackface, playing banjos. The title, Grand Opening of Cleveland, Gorman, and Bayard’s Minstrels is actually satirical and because Bayard died in 1889, I would expect that 1887 or 1888 is the more accurate date of this fantastic print.”

Once enlarged, the names of each politician active during Cleveland’s presidency can be seen on their collars. On the right:

John Griffin Carlisle (1834-1910) served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1883 to 1889 and was a leader of the conservative wing of the party.

Henry Watterson (1840-1921) was a United States journalist and editor for the Louisville Courier-Journal. He also served part of one term in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat.

Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn (1838-1918) was a Democratic Representative and Senator from Kentucky.

William Crowninshield Endicott (1826-1900) served as Secretary of War in Grover Cleveland’s Administration.

Hugh McLaughlin (1827-1904) was the head of the Democratic Party in Brooklyn, New York.

On the left:
Arthur Pue Gorman (1839-1906) was a United States Senator from Maryland, serving from 1881 to 1899 and from 1903 to 1906. He was a prominent leader of the Democratic Party.

Samuel Jackson Randall (1828-1890) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, serving as the 29th Speaker of the House and was twice a contender for his party’s nomination for President of the United States.

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (1825-1893) was a United States Representative and Senator, serving as United States Secretary of the Interior in the first administration of Cleveland, as well as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Samuel Sullivan “Sunset” Cox (1824-1889) represented both Ohio and New York in the United States House of Representatives. In 1885, Cleveland appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which last one year. Cox was again elected to Congress representing New York and served until his death.

Abram Stevens Hewitt (1822-1903) was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1876 to 1877, U.S. Congressman, and a mayor of New York.
Grover Cleveland is at the center.

The artist is Bernhard Gillam (1856-1896) who provided cartoons to the New York Graphic, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Harper’s Weekly, and Puck Magazine. He later became director-in-chief for Judge, where he continued to draw caricatures of American politicians. Each one was lithographed in four or five colors by the New York firm of Sackett & Wilhelms.

Bernard Gillam (1856-1896), Grand Opening of Cleveland, Gorman and Bayard’s Minstrels at Washington, no date [1880s]. Color lithograph. Graphic Arts Collection GA 2012.02692

Who Were Frith’s Assistants?

It is often repeated that Francis Frith (1822-1898) traveled in Egypt with an entourage of assistants and staff. We know at least one of the English members of the team, Francis Herbert Wenham (1824-1908) seen at the right and possibly Wenham’s wife since Frith, pictured with the gun, was not yet married. But who were the other assistants and what role did they play in making these photographs?

Frith made three journeys to the Middle East. His first trip was in 1856, photographing the statues and ruins of Egypt. The sale of these photographs financed his next trip to Palestine, Syria, and Egypt in late 1857. Frith published the second group of images in various formats between 1858 and 1860. In the summer of 1859, Frith returned to Egypt for one final expedition.

We pulled Egypt and Palestine with his 1857 prints for the ART 454 Seminar in the History of Photography taught by Anna Arabindan Kesson and Anne McCauley, which gave us the opportunity to look at the people who accompanied Frith on his trip. Unfortunately, none of them are identified by name in the text.

In his book Francis Frith in Egypt and Palestine, Douglas Nickel writes, “Frith incorporated staffage natives–“designedly place.” as he indicates–into about half of the images in his albums. These inclusions are not systematic or uniform–they vary in number and in the manner of deployment within the scene, for instance, and the figures often, but not always, represent various hired members of Frith’s traveling party. Visually, the figures are (with the exception of the party’s dragoman guide) undifferentiable as Turks, Arabs, Nubians, etc.; here again, they are meant to serve as one synthetic type, the Oriental.”

Francis Frith self-portrait
Francis Frith (18-18 ), Egypt and Palestine (London; New York : J.S. Virtue, [1858-1859?]). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) Oversize 2006-0144F

Dickens Travels to Paris

Caricaturist André Gill (born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guînes, 1840-1885) drew for the weekly newspaper La Lune from 1865 until 1868 when it was banned and then, for its successor L’Éclipse until 1876. Most issues featured a cover lithograph by Gill of the famous French authors, scientists, actors, and artists of the day. Giuseppe Garibaldi, Charles Dickens, and Richard Wagner were some of the few non-French celebrities honored with a portrait.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) appeared on the cover of the June 14, 1868 issue, seen carrying his books over to France. He made a visit that month to see a Paris production of No Thoroughfare and perhaps, give a reading (noted in The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 12: 1868-1870).

L’Eclipse. Paris: [s.n.], 1e année, no 1 (26 janv. 1868)-9e année, no 400 (25 juin 1876). Graphic Arts Collection (GAX) 2010-0021E

Some of Gill’s other portraits include Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) on July 2, 1870 and Gustave Doré (1832-1883) on May 3, 1868 (note: this is a supplement to the regular issue for that date, which featured the French critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869) holding a large ham.).

If you go to Paris today, be sure to visit the tiny street: Rue André Gill in Montmartre, see the statue at the far left. You might even stay at the Hotel André Gill located there.

Wille

Johann Georg Wille (sometimes Jean Georges Wille, 1715-1808) after Gerard Ter Borch II (1617-1681), L’Instruction Paternelle [Paternal Instruction], 1765. Engraving. Graphic Arts Collection

Johann Georg Wille (sometime Jean Georges Wille, 1715-1808) after Godfrey Schalken (1643-1706), Le Concert de Famille [The Family Concert], 1769. Engraving. Second state with coat of arms. Graphic Arts Collection

The Graphic Arts collection has 19 engraving by the German-born printmaker Johann Georg Wille (sometimes Jean Georges Wille, 1715-1808). Most of these are reproductions of French, Dutch, and Italian oil paintings. At one time, Wille served as an engraver to emperors and kings but as the 18th century progressed, commissions became infrequent, Wille lost most his possessions, and died in poverty.

Seen here are two engravings, one is a second state with a coat of arms but without the caption added. The other is a third state with both coat of arms and caption. The Princeton University Art Museum also has a copy of The Family Concert, given by Junius S. Morgan, Class of 1888. Theirs is the first state before letters and coat of arms.

See also:
Bibiena, Ferdinando Galli, 1657-1743. Basilica Carolina: opus grande, non homini sed Deo praeparata habitatio … : Mannhemii Palatina in metropoli aedificata … Mannhemii: Ex Typographejo Electorali Aulico, [1760]. Marquand Library (SAX): Rare Books Oversize N6923.B52 R322 1760f

Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744. Essai sur l’homme. Traduction franc̦oise en prose, par Mr. S**** [i.e. Étienne de Silhouette]. Lausanne, M. Chapuis, 1762. Temporarily Shelved at Rare Books (Ex) Oversize 2005-0451Q

Wille, Johann Georg, 1715-1808. Mémoires et journal de J.-G. Wille, graveur du roi, pub. d’après les manuscrits autographes de les manuscrits autographes de la Bibliothèque impériale, par Georges Duplessis, avec une préface par Edmond et Jules de Goncourt. Paris, Ve J. Renouard, 1857. Marquand Library (SA) NE650.W6 A3

The First Picture of a Printing Press

In preparing for the Spring 2016 class “Waking the Dead,” ATL 497 at the Princeton Atelier [http://arts.princeton.edu/academics/atelier/], we pulled a number of books and prints. The class is being taught by graphic novelist Kevin C. Pyle and Jennine Willett, co-artistic director of Third Rail Projects, a dance theater company known for immersive works. Pyle and Willett are collaborating with students across multiple disciplines to integrate movement, images, and text into a new story-telling format.

Eric White, our curator of rare books, kindly gave me a preview of La grāt danse macabre des hōmes (Lyon, 1499) in the Scheide Library, which not only has spectacular representations of death but also the first illustration of a printing office and a working printing press. We have one of the only two copies known to have survived (the other is in the British Library).

Published by Mathias Huss, the page above shows death at a book shop, interrupting a compositor, and calling a halt to the printing of a book. Here are a few close ups (the color of the paper is not well represented in these photographs).

La grāt danse macabre des hōmes, des fēmes hystoriee, augmentee de beaulx dis en latin. Le debat du corps et de lame. La cōplainte de lame dampnee. Exortation de bien viure, bien mourir. La vie du mauuais antecrist. Les quinze signes. Le iugement. [With woodcuts.] G.L. ([Mathias Huss:] Lyon, le .xviii. iour de feurier, 1499). Scheide Library, Princeton University. dance of d7

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: