Category Archives: prints and drawings

prints and drawings

Louche binding

This book was purchased by the Graphic Arts Collection in small part because the binding was listed as “louche.” Louche is an adjective that describes something of questionable taste or morality while at the same time kind of attractive—ugly/beautiful–; one definition reads “the louche world of the theater.”

It seems apropos of Jim Dine’s consciously informal facsimile of the annotated script and his sketches for a never realized production of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. This is perhaps his most well-known artists’ book and the first of many celebrated volumes from Petersburg Press. Later projects include Foirades by Samuel Beckett and Jasper Johns (1976); The Departure of the Argonaut by Alberto Savinio and Francesco Clemente (1986); Notes in Hand by Claes Oldenburg (1971); Shards by Richard Meier and Frank Stella (1983) and dozens of others.

The Petersburg Press had two incarnations, first in London in 1968 and again in New York in 1972, publishing limited edition prints, livres d’artistes, and artists’ books in collaboration with a list of noted contemporary artists that few presses could rival. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/06/paul-cornwall-jones-obituary Here is the Guardian’s obituary for its founder Paul Cornwall-Jones.

Jim Dine, Picture of Dorian Gray: a working script for the stage from the novel by Oscar Wilde (London: Petersburg Press. 1968). Limited edition, 125/200 signed by Jim Dine. Bound in emerald green velvet over boards with the title blocked in silver on the upper cover. This is edition B of Dine’s three editions of Dorian Gray. The original colour lithographs, etchings and text pages were prepared on zinc and aluminium plates by Jim Dine in February 1968 and subsequently printed on Velin Arches at the Atelier Desjobert and Atelier Leblanc in Paris. It contains twelve lithographs six of which are the signed set issued loose in Editions A and C. This copy lacks the four signed etchings which are called for in the publisher’s notes. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2019- in process

Endpapers

Bidloo’s Martyrdom of the Apostles

As many people are in their first week of new year’s resolutions, it might be appropriate to look at the popular volume Brieven der gemartelde apostelen [Letters of the Tortured Apostles] by the Dutch surgeon and professor of anatomy Govard Bidloo (1649-1713). First published in 1675 and reissued several times before Bidloo’s death, the text and plates depict the author’s warning against the seducing power of good food, wine, and other earthly delights. Gruesome suffering shown includes stoning, quartering, beating, burning, and other bodily tortures endured by these saints, as necessary preparation for the next world.


A complete transcription of the texts can be found on The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (DBNL), the wonderful digital collection of texts that belong to Dutch literature, linguistics, and cultural history from the earliest times to the present. The collection represents the entire Dutch language area and is the result of a collaboration between the Taalunie, the Flemish Heritage Library and the Royal Library in The Hague. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bidl001brie01_01/

Although the plates are not signed, several sources attribute the engravings to the gifted and socially well connected artist, Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708). There might have been dissatisfaction with the result because Bidloo writes elsewhere about the artist’s incompetence* and later, the plates for Bidloo’s monumental Anatomia humani corporis, published in Amsterdam in 1685, were drawn by Gérard de Lairesse (1640–1711) and engraved by Abraham Blooteling (1640–1690) and Peter van Gunst (1659?–1724?).

 

 

Govert Bidloo (1649-1713), Brieven der gemartelde apostelen [Letters of the Tortured Apostles] (Amsterdam: Hieroymus Sweerts, 1675). Plates by Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2018- in process.

 

*Luuc Kooijmans, Death Defied: The Anatomy Lessons of Frederik Ruysch (Leiden: Brill, 2010), Firestone Library QM16.R89 K6613 2010

Henk Van Nierop, The Life of Romeyn de Hooghe, 1645–1708: Prints, Pamphlets, and Politics in the Dutch Golden Age (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018)

What is printmaking?

You may have already received this link but in case you missed it over all the winter holidays, here it is again: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the assistance of the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University, has posted a new site visually explaining artistic printmaking materials and processes. It is clean, specific, and easy to follow with basic printing technology. Of course there is more, but this will go a long way to exhibit the fundamentals to students, historians, and the general public about “the principle of transferring images from a matrix onto another surface.”

Coming soon in 2019 will be a similar site on the basic drawing materials and techniques used by artists throughout history. I look forward to learning more about silverpoint, which has never been made clear to me.

Joubert Medailles

François Etienne Joubert, Medailles (Paris: Joubert, rue des Mathurins, aux deux Piliers d’Or, ca. 1793). 2 vol., 50 engravings. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2018- in process

New to the Graphic Arts Collection are two volumes with 50 color stipple engravings, 25 of which are by François Etienne Joubert. Possibly a unique collection, one guess is the books were made to show the printer’s ability. Many plates highlight classical or allegorical subjects, most in a classical circular frame, featuring putti and angels in pastoral settings.

The British Museum posted a biography for François Étienne Joubert that reads in part:
“Began career as engraver and print publisher in Lyons. In 1787 moved to Paris and bought stock of J F Chéreau; the two worked together for several months, before Joubert took over sole running of business in 1788. Moved to new address c.1795 when Depeuille took over his building.

In 1801 published a four page pamphlet, Définition des mots copie et contrefaction en gravure (reprinted by C Hould, Images of the French Revolution 1989, pp.415-6). In 1821 published 3 vols. Manuel de l’Amateur d’Estampes (being a biographical dictionary of engravers, with notes on their principal plates and current prices, plus introductory essays).” –Marquand Library NE90 .J82


Poems by the Knight of Morar, See Princeton

Detail

The British Museum holds an etching [left] by George Cruikshank (1792-1878) designed as a frontispiece to Sir William Augustus Fraser’s Poems by the Knight of Morar, with the inscription “Designed & Etched by- George Cruikshank- September 27th 1870- 78 years of age.” At the bottom someone has written “See Princeton…”.

Princeton University’s Graphic Arts Collection holds a watercolor sketch [below] for this print but no book, since the proposed volume with this 1870 frontispiece was never published.

 

Thanks to the gift of Richard Waln Meirs (Class of 1888), the Graphic Arts Collection does have two editions of Fraser’s book from 1867 with other Cruikshank’s designs, both particularly rare unpublished copies: Sir William Fraser (1826-1898), Poems by the Knight of Morar (London: Printed by Whittingham and Wilkins, 1867). Copy 1 has three steel engravings by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) and one etching by G. Cruikshank.  Copy 2 uses that Cruikshank print as a frontispiece, described here:

Verse:
“Or on the sundial’s polished face
Round and round the circle trace,
Now to the gnoman’s point they climb
Mocking the Moon’s mistaken time”

Établissements Nicolas designed by Cassandre

A.M. (Adolphe Mouron) Cassandre (1901-1968), Établissements Nicolas maison fondée en 1822 … liste des grands vins fins (Charenton-le-pont [Paris]: [Établissements Nicolas]; [Paris]: Imp. Draeger, 1930). Ephemera – advertising

A student of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, Adolphe Mouron Cassandre was a painter, commercial poster artist and typeface designer. His inventive graphic techniques show influences of Surrealism and Cubism and became very popular in Europe and the US during the 1930s.

He was a teacher as well as an artist and led courses at both the École des Arts Décoratifs and the École d’Art Graphique in 1934 and 1935. He and several other partners formed the advertising agency Alliance Graphiqe, which worked for a broad client base throughout the 1930s.

One of his most well recognized posters was the Normandie Poster and while his primary success stemmed from designing posters he also designed magazine covers, advertisements, logos and typefaces. In 1937 he designed the typeface Peignot for the Deberny & Peignot type foundry in Paris, France. He joined the French army during the German invasion of World War II, after the devastating effects of the war he found work designing sets for ballet and theater production. In 1968, after a severe battle with depression, he ended his own life.–Biographical information taken from: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/am-cassandre/

See also: Henri Mouron, A.M. Cassandre (New York: Rizzoli, 1985). Graphic Arts Collection NC1850.M6 M68 1985

 

Google images

 

…What a way to make a living

(left) The Engraver or Plate cutter, ca. 1725.   (right) The Engraver, 1694.

In 1568, Jost Amman carved woodcuts depicting various occupations, printed together with several lines of verse by Hans Sachs. In 1694 the Amsterdam artist Jan Luyken (or Luiken) and his son Casper published a collection of 100 engravings depicting arts and craft professions, also with a six-line poem below.

Each of these books were enormously successful and many variant copies followed. Recently the Graphic Arts Collection acquired an Amsterdam edition by Reinier and Josua Ottens, published around 1725. This set of engravings includes occupations copied directly from the Luykens’ volume but with completely new verses below.

The prints are also shifted into a new order, offering little narratives. One such example, shown below, is a Doctor seen with a massive botanical open before him and an unhappy patient opening a flask. The verse translates loosely: “The sick people who appear before me are taken in by medics, unless their coincidence was too great, I know no drinks for death.” This is immediately followed by the grave digger seen with a collection of skulls.

A few more plates are posted here.


Afbeelding der menschelyke bezigheden, bestaande in hondert onderscheiden printverbeeldingen vertonende allerhande stantspersonen [= Depictions of Human Activities, Consisting of Hundreds of Distinguished Printed Images Showing All Kinds of People] (Amsterdam: Reinier and Josua Ottens, ca. 1725). Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2018- in process.

 

See also:

Jan Luyken (1649-1712) and Casper Luyken (1672-1708), Het menselyk bedryf, vertoond. in. 100. Verbeeldingen [= Human Industry, exhibited in 100 Images] (t’Amsterdam: Gedaan door Johannes en Caspaares Luiken, 1694). Reprint of 1694 original. Rare Books 3382.34.358

Hartmann Schopper (born 1542), [Panoplia] omnium illiberalium mechanicarum aut sedentariarum artium genera continens (Francofurti ad Moenum: [Apud Georgium Coruinum, impensis Sigismundi Feyerabent], M.D.LXVIII [1568]). Verses by Hartmann Schopper, accompanied by woodcuts by Jost Amman (1539-1591). Graphic Arts Collection 2003-1720N

Hans Sachs (1494-1576), Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden (Franckfurt am Mayn : [s.n.], 1568). British Library Online

 

Note, Jost depicts a woodcutter rather than an engraver, cutting wood rather than copper.

Rodin exhibition extended

Good news from Paris. The exhibition Rodin, Dessiner, Découper has been extended for a couple extra weeks and so, if you are in Paris in March 2019, you may still have time to see the ‘cut-outs’ from our Graphic Arts Collection at the Musée Rodin. The show includes nearly 250 drawings by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), of which 90 are his rare and often surprising cut and assembled figures, 6 loaned by Princeton University.

“Jouant de la mise en espace de ces corps,” writes curator Sophie Biass-Fabiani, “ce procédé révèle des silhouettes découpées audacieuses et un dynamisme d’une grande modernité. Cette exposition annonce un des modes d’expression novateurs du XXe siècle.”

http://musee-rodin.fr/fr/exposition/rodin-dessiner-decouper

Here are a few gallery shots, thanks to our colleagues.

 

Note, if you are watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you will also see Rodin’s museum highlighted.

Mr Pipp the Barber and other early comic strips




The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired three items from the library of Anne and F.G. Renier of interest to early comic strip researchers. Two were drawn by John Lewis Roget (1828-1908), the son of thesaurus-creator Peter Mark Roget. For more examples of work by John Lewis Roget, see: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2014/02/05/rogets-other-work/. The third volume has potential connections to Roget.

Above are a few of the 44 pages from Mr. Pipp,  in which he attempts to woo Mrs. Plum by learning to dance, wearing a wig, losing weight, and other personal improvements. Poor guy.

Viewers will immediately think of Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846), who is often credited with drawing the earliest European illustrated comic strip (although James Gillray was doing it much earlier). Töpffer drew Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois in 1827 and then, published the small volume in 1837. See: https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2017/04/07/histoire-de-mr-jobard-and-others/ There is no record of Roget’s Mr Pipp appearing in print.

 

Along with Pipp, we also acquired A Shepherd Once Had Lost His Love, which takes its title from the popular song from Storace’s Drury Lane Opera The Cherokee, 1794. Finally, seen below is a work by the unknown Adolphus Gosling, also named W.A.G. Neither moniker has been found in any database or drawing catalogue and yet, the very similar style suggests a connection with Roget.

What do you think?

 


John Lewis Roger (1828-1908), A Sketch of a Passage in the Life of Mr. Pipp the Barber; wherein the inroads made upon his peace of mind by the Widow Plum, the fair grocer, are duly registered by their mutual friend and admirer J.L.R. ([England] : J.L. Roget, 1848). Graphic Arts Collection GA2018- in process
John Lewis Roger (1828-1908), A Shepherd Once Had Lost His Love (1847). Graphic Arts Collection GA2018- in process
W.A.G. [Adolphus Gosling], Outlines of the the most interesting portion of the chequered life of that singular individual, designed and drawn by W.A.G. (1851). Graphic Arts Collection GA2018- in process

Micrography


Those who attended the exhibition on Matthias Buchinger prepared by collector Ricky Jay and curator Freyda Spira at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2016 will remember the many examples of micrography shown, a traditional art form dating to the late ninth century, in which minute lines of text are used to shape patterns or forms. The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired two 19th century examples of micrography, each with decorative miniature text around a famous theologian.

The first broadside highlights Martin Luther (1483-1546)–different from the Luther seen at the MET–engraved and etched by Theodor Goetz (1779-1853) of Weimar, Germany. The print is dated 1817, suggesting it was prepared to celebrate the tercentenary of the reformation. Luther is seen “clad in the creed of the holy bishop of Afhanasii, and embraced with the apostolic and Nicene creeds.”

The second broadside is dedicated to John Calvin (1509-1564), a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. The miniature text is written in Hungarian and although we do not know where it was produced, it is likely this was also part of a tercentenary celebration.