WOOD - ENGRAVINGS BY AUGUSTE LEPERE 1920 1 y Auguste Lepere au Travail (Photo faite en 1918) CATALOGUE OF A NOTABLE COLLECTION OF WOOD- ENGRAVINGS BY AUGUSTE LEPERE [1849-1918] I Galleries of M. KNOEDLER & CO. 556-558 Fifth Avenue near 46th St. New York Commencing October 25th, 1920 FOREWORD AUGUST LEPERE (1849-1918) REDERICK WEDMORE, in his book entitled "Etchings," published 1911, folio 83, writes the follow­ ing: "Auguste Lepere was known as an Original Engraver on Wood some years before he was known at all as an Etcher; a man about sixty years old, the bulk of his work in both these arts is of necessity done, and it has made him famous" "Lepere is the indisputable master of the wood­ cut ; no rival, no contemporary, I should even add no predecessor, has approached him in the force, the delicacy, the quite extraordinary variety of his em­ ployment of it, nor in the richness of pictorial inven­ tion of which he has made it the medium." "The most amazing wood-cut that ever Lepere has wrought is of a scene and monument outside the capital: it is the capital of Normandy. His 'West Front of the Cathedral of Rouen' is the great mas­ terpiece of wood-cutting." (See L. B. 177.) 3 V LEPERE'S EARLY TRAINING IN THE ART OF WOOD-ENGRAVING When but thirteen years of age, he entered the studio of Smeeton, a wood engraver who was one of the principal "Fournisseurs du Magasin Pittor- esque," remaining with him for ten years, acquiring not only all the technical skill which Smeeton pos­ sessed, but adding to it unconsciously the artistic- resourceful genius which, lying dormant, was ready without the least encouragement to issue forth, astonishing not only his friends but the art world. It seemed incredible that one so young should pos­ sess such wonderful adaptability, one whose manners and ways were so simple and unaffected should be capable not only of mastering all the knowledge and technique of the masters who preceded him, but to "carry on," elevating the art to a pinnacle it seemed quite impossible to reach or aspire to. He raised the wood-engravers art, which at that time was looked down upon as purely commercial, to a place among the great arts. The landscapes, the cities, the villages, the country life, the churches and build­ ings all breathe of life, air and movement. M. Leonce Benedite "conservateur du Musee National du Lux­ embourg" in his able preface to Lotz-Brissonneau's catalogue of the Etchings, Wood-engravings and Lithographs of Auguste Leperes among other things writes: "II est devenu, en effet, le plus extraordi­ naire graveur sur bois; les virtuosites les plus sub- tiles du metier n'ont plus de secrets pour sa main, 4 alerte, vive, nerveuse, qui se joue de toutes les dif­ ficulty, qui rivalise avec tous les autres modes d'ex- pression de l'estampe et qui dene jusqu'a la peinture. Et, ce phenomene se produit juste a l'heure fatale ou la gravure semblait tout a fait condamnee par la decouverte et l'emploi chaque jour plus prodigieuse- ment repandu des procedes photographiques. L'une des formes les plus irremediablement attein- tes de cet art etait surtout la gravure sur bois. L'eau-forte, la lithographie garderent encore quelque force, grace a leur prestige d'arts independants. Mais le bois, lui, le bois, jusq'alors n'avait pas vecu de sa vie propre. II n'avait jamai cesse d'etre asservi a la typographic Et, tandis que le livre cou- rant, la revue, le journal, le magazine, tout ce qui avait fait vivre le bois jusqu'a ce jour, l'abandon- naient totalement, dans leur multiplication nouvelle, pour adopter les procedes photographiques, le livre d'art proprement dit traversait lui-meme de telles epreuves que les pauvres xylographes paraissaient devoir a jamais renoncer a tout espoir." NOTES UPON THE PRACTICAL PART OF WOOD-ENGRAVINC Both wood-cuts and wood-engraving are in relief and printed from the surface, the ink rolled over the same as is done in printing from type; in fact, the wood-cut and wood-engraving were developed for illustration of printed matter to appear in con­ junction with it. At first they used straight grained wood, but owing to the great difficulty of produc- 5 ing a clean line, better results were obtained with box-wood prepared by cutting it across the grain. In the large posters, however, and in the coarser work, they still use the straight grained wood. A wood-cut is produced by cutting the block with a knife—the wood-engraving with a graver—the same instrument that is employed in cutting metal. W. J. Linton, in his manual of "Instruction on Wood-Engraving," London, George Bell & Sons, 1884, makes this distinction between a wood-cut and a wood-engraving, viz.: the first process (wood-cut) is done by a mechanic; the second (wood-engraving) by an artist. Most any one with a steady hand and good eye could become an able wood-cutter, but he must be this and more to be a wood-engraver. The lines showing white when printed are the engraved lines (the counter part of the black line of the cop­ per-plate engraver or etcher). "White line alone is art." "Let us keep the name 'an engraving' for works of art only—marking the line between wood­ cut and wood-engraving." "The earliest dated wood-engraving was long con­ sidered to be a "Saint Christopher," an impression of which, colored and much damaged, is in the pos­ session of Earl Spencer. It bears the date of 1428, and was found in the Chartreuse convent of Bux- heim near Memmingen, in Suabia—one of the most ancient convents in Germany." "A book of 'Fables,' printed by Pfister at Bam­ berg in 1461, appears to have been the first book printed with types and wood-cuts." "A great engraver, indeed, was Albert—or Al- brecht Durer, a great engraver in copper,—great in that as in his painting. Great also for his designs, drawn, I suppose, by himself upon the wood. But at the date of his first work, engraving on wood had become extensively practiced. There was no need then for the hand-work in cutting, even setting aside the easily to be shown impossibility of his having had time to cut only a small portion of the design known to be his. And it may be remarked that, however skilful his hand might be in the use of the graver in copper, the altogether different and unac­ customed work of cutting with a knife would cer­ tainly not have been done by him so well as by one used to it. The very excellence (clean and exact rendering of line) would rather point to the skilled mechanic as its doer: the better the work as engrav­ ing, the less likely (and the remark applies to other painters or draughtsmen credited with engraving their own drawings on wood)—the less likely that he had any hand in it. More truly is he called 'the greatest promoter' of the art of wood-engraving, from the number as well as the grandeur of his works of that kind." *Chatto writes: "There are about two hundred subjects engraved on wood which are marked with the initials of Albert Durer's name; and the greater part of them, though evidently designed by the hand of a master, are engraved in a manner which cer- •William A. Chatto, an Englishman, b. 1799, d. 1864. Jack­ son & Chatto wrote a "Treatise on Wood-Engraving," 1838. 7 tainly denotes no very great excellence. Of the remainder, which are better engraved, it would be difficult to point out one which displays execution so decidedly superior as to enable any person to say positively that it must have been cut by Albert Durer himself." . Another point well taken by Mr. Chatto. There are quite a number of cross- lines in Durer's wood-cuts. The following we quote verbatim: "What is termed 'Cross-hatching5 in wood-engraving is nothing more than the black lines crossing each other for the most part diagonally; and in drawing on wood it is easier to produce a shade by this means than by thickening the lines; but in engraving on wood it is precisely the reverse, for it is easier to leave a thick line than to cut out the interstices of lines crossing each other." Jerome (Andre) Resch, best (early) engraver of his time, is said by Neudorffer, a contemporary of Durer, to have engraved most of the Durer designs. All this goes to show that the design and drawing upon the block come first and the engraving of that design second; that when both design and engraving are done by the same hand working for the same end, combining artistic knowledge with mechanical excellence, there is bound to be satisfactory results. Lepere with his inborn artistic feeling and years of experience in the studio of Smeeton, the wood- engraved, combined to erect a foundation on which he established a reputation, which one is compelled 8 to acknowledge, is both deserved and justified, and he should be regarded as the greatest wood-engraver of all times. TRIAL PROOFS ARE OBTAINED AS FOLLOWS Gently dab the engraved block over with an ink ball, being careful that the ink does not run down into the cutting, then place India paper over the block with a cardboard over the India paper, then with a burnisher rub evenly the cardboard backing until all the ink has been transferred to the India paper.