THE TAMARIND PAPERS

Technical, Critical and Historical Studies on the Art of the Lithograph

Volum e 6, Number I Winter 1982-83 Volum e 6, Number 1 Winter 1982-83

THE TAMARIND PAPERS Technical, Critical and Historical Studies on the Art of the Lithograph

Editor: Clinton Adams Contributing Editor: John Sommers

Editorial Board: Richard Field, Janet Flint , Robert Gardner, Jules Heller, Lynton R. Kistler, Peter Morse, and Gustave von Groschwitz

CONTENTS

COVER: Nathan Oliveira. Tamarind Site, 1983. The Personality of Lithography 4 10 x 630 mm. A Conversation with Nathan Oliveira Clinton Adams 4 Printed by Catherine Kirsch Kuhn. [T 83-62 1] Robert Blackburn: An Investment in an Idea Elizabeth Jones 10

Tamarind Site is the second annual Art That Is Really Not Art Gusta ve Harrow 15 presentation print published for the Tamarind Collector's Club. Albert Winslow Barker Graphite Crayons and Sea Salt Ronald Netsky 18 Tamarind Tests of the Barker Crayons 22 Lo-Shu Washes Rebecca Bloxham 22 A Microscopic Study of Ink and Water Emulsions Todd Frye 25 Tamarind: A Photographic Yearbook 27 Directory of Suppliers 28

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The Tamarind Papers are published twice each year by Tamarind Institute. 108 Cornell Avenue . SE. Albuquerque, New Mex ico 87 13 1. Telephone 505: 277-390 1.

Manu scripts and photographs on subjects related to the art of the lithograph are we lcomed. however A Cumulative Index to Volumes I through 5 has no advance commitment can be given with respect to publication of unsolicited material. Such been published and distributed to current sub­ material will be re turned onl y if accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed enve lope. Tamarind scribers with thi s issue ofTTP. Others may obtain Institute is not responsible for the loss of or injury to manuscripts or photographs. The views this index upon request: $2.00 (postpaid). expressed in articles are those of the individual writers and not necessarily those of Tamarind In stitute or the Uni versit y of New Mexico.

PHOTO CREDITS: Reference to TBL in articles and footnotes are to The Tamarind Book of Litlzographr: Art and Louis Dienes. Page 6. Techniques by Garo Antreasian and Clinton Adams (New York: Abrams. 197 1). Todd Frye. Pages 25 , 26. SINGLE COPY PRICE: $4.00. SUBSCRIPTIONS: two years (four issues). $ 15.00. Barbara Puorro Galasso. Pages 18-2 1. Robert Reck. Cover, page 4. © Th e UniversitY of Nell' Mexico. / 982. All rights reserved. Susan von Glahn. Page 27. Printed in the United States of America by the Un ive rsit y of New Mexico Printing Pl ant. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Pages 12 , 13. ISSN : 0276-3397. THE PERSONALITY OF LITHOGRAPHY

A Conversation with Nathan Oliveira

The distinguished Ame ri can pai nter and printmaker Nathan Oliveira made hi s third working visit to Tamarind in the summer of 1982. During this stay he completed hi s color lithograph Tamarind Site !cover], the second in a series of lithograph to be published an­ nually for members of the Tamarind Collec­ tor's Club. Oliveira later di scussed hi s work in lithography in a conversation with Clinton Adams. Adams begins the conversati on:

Among the artists who were working in th e Bay Area in the late 1940s- Park, Bischoff, Dieben­ korn, and oth ers-you are the only one who has made lithographs over a period of years. How do you account for your interest in lithography? Why is it that other artists who might ha ve found it a creative medium did not in fact do so? When l made my first lithograph in 1948 , my he­ roes as a student were the arti sts of Europe. Throughout hi story there had been a tradition of graphics parallel to painting and sculpture. It goe all the way back to Rembrandt, Durer, Goya, Lau­ trec, and the German Expressionists-the ones l was most fond of. l patterned my own efforts, my own concerns, after those artists. But while the European artists made prints coll aborati vely, 1 had to learn how to make my own- for as you know there were then only one or two printers in the country. Even if there had been more printers, l was a stud ent then. I couldn 't have afforded to have my work printed. I also felt the influence of twentieth century art­ athan Oliviera at Tamarind Institute, 1975 . ists, arti sts who were still alive: Picasso, Matisse, Giacometti , and Max Beckmann , the German Expressionist with whom l worked one summer, just before he died. You studied with Beckmann ? Yes, he was a visiting artist at Mills College in the summer of 1950. My first class in lithography wa at California Arts and Crafts with a craft sman Ray­ mond Bertrand, who was an oldtime lithographer­ quite a guy, a wonderful man. The second expe­ ri ence in lithography at Arts and Crafts was with 4 Leon Goldin. Around that time Ri chard Dieben­ korn , Frank Lobdell . and others had made litho­ graphs ... Th ey made some black-and-white lithographs in / 948, apparently printed by offset by a commercial printer in San Francisco. athan Oliveira. The Elder. 1957. 644 x 474 mm. Ri ght. But the attitude that was prevalent at that Pri nted by the art ist. time-not o nl y with those people but among the Abstract Expressioni st arti ts in New York- was th at printmaking had to do with craft and technique; and this was part of the ethic th at the Abstract Expre ioni ts were destroying. So that in some ways they looked on printmaking with contempt; they couldn 't really accept the concern fo r craft and felt that it was better to ignore it th an to become in volved in it. I think that wa basically the attitude. A little later on, I met Milton Resni ck, th e New York painter who was then a visiting arti st at the Uni versity of California in Berkeley. We became friends , and in the course of our fr iendshi p-over a glass of wi ne or beer on a number of evening - he became reall y concerned that I was so in volved with printmaking. He wanted to know why I made prints, and 1 gave hi m the same answer I j ust gave you. Resni ck really looked on printmaking a a hobby; I think that wa the general attitude. But that attitude didn ' t carry any weight with me, because when !looked at the great Max Beck­ mann woodcuts and the Picasso lithographs, I found them to be really incredible statements . At that time, I believe, many people didn' t know how to look at a print. They didn ' t know how it was dif­ ferent from looking at a painting; they somehow looked on the print simply as a reproductive pro­ Yes, many time that wa actuall y the case, some­ ces . times from a lack of technical knowledge. There Th e images in your paintings and prints of that were times when I wanted to print an edition of a period were closely related one to the oth er. Did particular state in those earl y days, but still couldn 't you find that there was an interchange of creative print more than one. development between them? You \Veren' r discouraged by that ? Th e rnediurn ~ vas Oh ye . I have to qualify my work as a printer giving you what you wanted f rom it.? then. I wa not interested in making editi ons. For Ri ght . You see at that time, what we were trying me , the print had a particular identity. I thought of to do-my coll eagues, my students, and 1- was to it--of lithography, which was my major effort­ alter lithography to relate to the general attitude of as a means to make a series of progressive states Abstract Expressionism, this in spite of the opin­ related to a fundamental idea. I would make a first ions of the Abstract Expressionist artists. That made proof, then, after looking at it, observing it , and it necessary to break down a number of the barriers reflecting on the concept, l would go back, coun­ that somehow controlled printmaking. This was teretch, alter the concept, and proof again, so as certainl y going on in painting as well; painters were to extend the concept. My prints paralleled my using lacquer and enamels. But as we all know, painting, the images certainly carried over. once you start to foo l around wi th material on a In recent years, artists who begin to make prints­ lithograph stone- whi ch is a very precise graphic particularly painters who begin to make prints­ art form-you can run into trouble. But this was usually tend to think of them as multiples; th ey are of no concern to us, because what we were trying concern ed with publication of editions. What you to do wa to develop a language within lithography are saying is that you were very much less inter­ whi ch would fo ster our ideas. ested in that aspect ofprintmakin g. Would you have 1 know th at you once printed for de Kooning. Did gone on making lithographs even if you could have you often make an effort to get oth er painters in­ printed only one impression from each stone? terested in lithography? 5 No, that was an isolated event. While I was a playing a role that I had never played before. I student there was a core of people such as myself showed de Kooning what tu sche was and in structed who were concerned wi th the print, but after I got him as to how the process worked . We then left to out of school I fo und that few arti sts were sym­ go to the fac ulty cl ub , to wait all day, while he patheti c to a simil ar in volvement. Most had been developed an image. captured by the Abstract Expressionist concern fo r The fac ulty cl ub is about a quarter of a mile the major art forms of painting and sculpture. Very away from the print shop at Berkeley. We were few people re lated to prints. getting settled in-some people were shooting pool-when we looked up and there at the door Then how did the de Kooning print come about at was de Kooning . We naturall y thought someth ing Berkeley? was wrong. So I asked hi m what it was , and he Lithography said , " Nothing, I' m fi ni shed." Thi s was after less always has its Let's go back a bit. I was in the army from 1953 than an hour. own personality, to 1955. In 1956 I started my own work in lithog­ We all traipsed back to the shop, and there were its own identity, raphy, away from art school. I launched into this these two great brush drawings- whi ch I never and one can get great involvement of my own, and at that time came regarded as comparable to any statement he had at it only in a into contact with many artists whom I hadn' t met made in pai nti ng. I fe lt they simply indicated his circumstance that before. I executed a good number of lithographs, lack of concern fo r the making of a print. In any allows the artist and subsequently received a Tiffany grant and a event , George and I did our best: we printed small to explore it. Guggenheim fe llowship to travel in Europe. editions, and that was it. The gesture, on his part, When I came back from Europe in 1958 I stopped was about as far as he coul d go. mak ing lithographs-whi ch had reall y been just series of progressive states, sometimes wi th edi­ As far as the Bay Area artists were concern ed, I ti ons of five or ten , or in some cases twent y impres­ gather that the de Kooning lithographs remained, sions-and focused mostl y on painting. I was starting as you said, an isolated event. to exhibit in New York regul arl y, and I was intro­ Yes. After 1958, after my long work in lithography, duced to a number of painters there. I met de Koon­ I had onl y short encounters wi th the medi um until ing briefly in New York . After I returned to I went to Tamarind in 1963. I had been moving Cali fo rnia, I was pleased to learn that de Kooning away from a personal involvement and was reall y had come to San Francisco ... . Eri e Loran at the intrigued by what Tamarind was representing in Universi ty of Cali fo rn ia had had some contact with Los Angeles. Bill and had invi ted hi m to make a print ... Had you made prints collaboratively before going Tha t's a curious thing. One would not have as­ to Tamarind in / 963 ? sociated de Kooning with printmaking at that time. And Erie wasn't a printmaker eith er. How did Erie No. In 1958 when I went to Europe, I intended to get th e idea that de Kooning might make a litho­ contact Mourlot and possibly Lecourier. Rather na­ graph? ively, I expected to be able to walk into a shop and go to work. Most of the master artists whom I Karl Kasten may have suggested it. De Kooning regarded so highl y had had involvement with mas­ may in some way have fe lt trapped, because he ter printers, and I was looking forward to it. Later, shared the Abstract Expressionist ethic of looking when June Wayne invi ted me to work at Tamar­ at printmaking with some contempt. But de Koon­ ind- which was a very spontaneous invitation dur­ ing is reall y a pleasant and congeni al person, and ing a year when I was visiting arti st at UCLA-I he may just have wished to accommodate Eri e. accepted the opportunity and I enjoyed it thor­ There were-and still are-some very large and oughl y. beautiful stones at Berkeley. Erie contacted me­ Since that Ta marind experience, you have again l was the onl y artist around who had made litho­ printed for yourself, and you have worked collab­ graphs, although I had stopped at that time- and oratively off and on. What can you say about the as ked if I would print for de Kooning. I fe lt very advantages and disadvantages of these two alter­ insecure about it , so I call ed George Miyasaki , who native ways of making lithographs? had spent some time at Tamarind in Los Angeles. I fe lt confi dent , having George with me, so the two I like the intimacy and the directness when I work of us showed up at Berkeley, ready to print these with the medium myself. For me, the real advan­ things. All we had to print on was architectural tage when the artist prints the lithograph is that paper that came in roll s; we didn't have any of the there is a heavy personal investment , one that does things you need to print a fin e edition of prints. not in volve another person. To draw and process Even so, we all went to the pri nt shop on a given a stone, open it again , extend the idea, process it day, including de Kooning. Everyone was in awe again , open it, extend the idea and process it over of thi s man who was such a great giant in New and over again: this is not a desirable approach fo r York City. I was a bit apprehensive because I was many of the master printers with whom I have 6 worked . They are sympatheti c, but onl y to a de­ gree. If I were to work with a master printer the athan Oliveira. way I worked in those earl y years it would create Black Christ I. 1963 . 764 X 562 mm. a certai n amount of tension. It woul d take a very Printed by Aris Koutroulis . [T 92SA] special printer to understand that kind of interest in th e personality of the single print , and the ex­ tension of ideas through progressive states. I find th at now in the monotype.

But many remarkable lithographs have been made collaboratively in the manner you describe. Some of Picasso's lithographs with Mourlot extended into I many states, with radical changes between them. f Yes. I do feel that the most successful lithographs produced in the past twenty years were those in which an arti st and a master printer coll aborated on a very high level. The printer served the artist in terms of progressive states, all owin g the arti st to arrive at a conclusion. But, as I say, in most cases such a practi ce is not that acceptable. When I worked wi th Bob ish [B ohuslav] Horak at Ta­ mari nd in Los Angeles he hesitated after the second time the stone was opened to go back into it for a thi rd or fo urth time. Irwin Hollander, on the other hand, was extremely sympathetic to my atti tude and encouraged it. What you are saying, then, is that the ideal cir­ cumstance might not necessarily be to work alone, but rather to work with a printer under conditions tention- that was part of the craft. If they couldn 't which made it possible to develop an image through reali ze an edition, if certain areas were mounting a series of states. An edition might result at some and others were opening, they fe lt as if they had point, but it would not be the goal. fa il ed. For me, that was never the case, but I coul d never reall y convi nce them that it was all right. Exactl y. One of the attitudes I had-1 still do-is that every lithograph that is made shoul d somehow But you didn't regard it as a failure if you arrived incorporate the personality of the medium . The at one proof which gave you what you were looking medium is incredibly capable of assimil ating tech­ for? nical effects-from watercolor, pen and ink , draw­ Not at all . In my in vo lvement with monotype, th is ing, whatever. But lithography always has its own is exactl y what I have. This is why I stopped mak­ personality. its own identity, and one can get at it ing lithograph s. onl y in a circumstance that all ows the artist to ex­ But many artists who make lithographs are very pl ore it. I know that in my own case, worki ng much concerned with editions. It is the concept of personall y and directl y with it, I woul d open the multiplicity that attracts them to the medium. What stone many times; and as I did this th e stone would do you see to be the effect of this attitude? become coarse, would be put in relief, and I could do strange reversals that couldn ' t be done th rough During the past twent y years, during which the other methods-so th at an identity was evolving coll aborati ve attitude has been fostered by work­ that sati sfied me that l had touched a particul ar shops and print publi shers, a great service to arti sts nature of lithography-a nature th at I recogni zed has certainl y been created, but as with many other in Redon, in Bresdin, in Carri ere, in the work of things in our country, this service has been abused. all of those great arti sts who somehow made lith­ Popular arti sts went into shops, wanting littl e more ographs that were not reproducti ons of drawings than 150 impressions of reproducti ons of their or watercolors. paintings or drawi ngs. Arti sts who were not worthy But to answer your questi on, yes, if a printer of touching a lithograph stone were encouraged to were avail able who could tolerate the violati on of come into the shops and make editions. Thousands the ethic of multiplicity, this woul d be ideal fo r and thousands of editions were made-many of me. From my work with master printers, I know whi ch, I think, never should have been printed. As that every time they couldn' t print an edition be­ these publicati ons flooded the market, they brought cause of an overworked stone, they would feel the about a change in attitude toward lithography and pain inside their hearts; that was part of their in- toward multiples in general. 7 What you are saying suggests that you feel that th ings have in some degree come full circle. Prints were at low ebb in the 1950s because th e abstract­ expressionists really did not take them seriously as a creative medium . More recently, th ey have been taken very seriously, but have also been abused. Do you think we are now back at square one, or ha ve we come to a differem point? What is your guess as to what may happen next?

I think we have come to a different point. First, let me say that there has been great abu e heaped upon the medium , so far as I am concerned. By the same token, among an important group of pub­ li shers-Tamarind, Tatyana Grosman, Irwin Hol­ lander, and other fin e workshops-an integrity has been maintained . If I have any sense at all about the abuse of lithography, 1 think the peopl e who have held it in high regard are those who have suffered most from the rape of this medium. For the others I have no feeling at all . We have to look at the last twenty years as a beginning. I think that this present moment- thi s moment of low ebb--is probabl y the time at which the reall y significant peri od can begin , because now only the peopl e who wish to be involved in li ­ thography will be in volved in it , whether as print­ ers, artists, or as publishers. So I am looking forward to an important moment around the corner. Now that all the hysteri a is out of the way, peopl e who are concerned fo r lithography-tho e who love the medium--<:an get down to bu siness. I look fo rward to some very important statements bei ng made in thi s fo rm , and l anti cipate it. All of rhe artists whose work you have memioned and admired are artists who devoted themselves extensively to the print . Do you see that as an essential condition for the fin e lithographs of th e f uture? Yes, I reall y do . l think an example of that can be found in Richard Diebenkom . During the early days, athan Oli veira. he did not want to participate in making prints. But Acoma Hawk I V. 1975. 765 x 569 mm. since his fi rst work at Crown Point , Dic k has con­ Prinled in fo ur colors by Ben Q. Adams tinuall y been in volved with etching and aquatint; and Glenn Bri ll . [T 75- 160Aj it has become a very important aspect of hi s whole producti on. I do fee l that in these years we have come to a point where we have been educated to rea li ze th at a lithograph is not simply a reproducti on of a paint­ ing. When we look at a lithograph it has its own identity, its own personality. It has the ability to create an added dimension of an artist's personality, of hi s or her total work. Thi is very important. As I have watched artists come to Ta marind to make lithographs during more than twenty years, I find that the prints that cling in my memory are most often those made by artists who have become deeply concerned with the medium. Seldom, it seems, does a casual first encounter with lithography produce 8 a great print. More frequently, extended involve­ sequential impressions-related to a print of Goya, ment seems to be required. a dialogue with Goya-l found an incredible, rich You recently returned to lithography in the print experience that took me on a great journey and that you made here, Tamarind Site, after a long provided me , as it went on, with a unique visual period away from the medium. during which you language that grew out of the process itse lf: a lan­ made many monotypes. You remarked that you were guage that I had not anticipated. And that language discovering a new dimension of lithography, per­ became the basis for the Site series that has been haps as a consequence of your work with mono­ going on since the late 1970s, a series which has types . Can you add to that? been important not only for itself, but also as it has spun off into paintings, and now into a litho­ Let me start by saying that I have never considered graph. It also relates to my ventures into sculpture, myself a master printer. I can make a very decent which I am just now starting to touch on. lithograph , but I am not a master printer. I am a So I fo und that a monotype could be valued for hand-proofer, as I hope that Rembrandt was in one impress ion , in and of itself, and as I went on proofing his works, or as Goya was in his close into a greater and deeper involvement I was led in association with the progressive states of his etch­ a very convincing way to realize that the medium ings. is one that deals with extending ideas and concepts: This aspect of my work concluded in 1970 when essential conditions in any print, whether it is a I spent the year producing the last works I ever monotype, a lithograph or an etching. printed in lithography, the Edgar Allen Poe series, When you were working on the color stones for dedicated in part to Martha Jackson (who thought Tamarind Site you made a similar comment. You of the idea before she died) and in part to Odilon said you saw variant possibilites, ways in which Redon. I spent the year with Richard Newlin, who you might extend one image into other images. later became a printer at Tamarind, and with Charles " Hank" Hine, a young poet and writer at Stanford I've always had that kind of nature. But with mon­ otype it is so immediate. It is pure printing, it is who accompanied me on this artistic journey. We pure indulgence. spent a year and did some fifty progressive states; from these we did seven editions which I felt were Why then do you think of doing lithographs again ? worthy to put into a suite. After that year I dis­ Once bitten . .. covered that I couldn' t rai se my arms above my Earlier. you spoke of the luminosity of lithography, shoulders, that I was worn out from the experience. a quality that you ha ve not been able to achieve I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration of the con­ in monotype. cepts, and certainly these two young men helped My monotypes do have an incredible sense of light, me a great deal . It was an incredible experience, but a different luminosity than we experience in but I never wanted to do it again . Never. Ever. the Tamarind Site-where that blend is printed over Shortly thereafter, I was introduced to the plate the dark areas. That is a quality I would like to monotype through the Eugenia Janis catalogue of explore. Degas's monotypes, and I found that the process Essentially. it comes from the multiple layers of made it far easier to realize what had taken me a ink, and the possibility ofprintin g evenly and trans­ year to accomplish with the Poe series. One simply lucently over another ink, which is something that paints on the surface of this plate, then prints an lithography can do that monotype cannot do as impression. The nature of the monotype-the re­ well, just as th ere are things that monotype can do versal of image, the reflective nature of paper, the that lithography can not do as well . brilliance of paper through veils of ink-had all the qualities of printing that I wanted, technically, Right. I have to have reasons to make a piece of and it had one other: it left a remnant or ghost of sculpture, or a monotype, or a lithograph. Too many the idea after the impression was made. I could lithographs were made without having the right enter back into that image that was still malleable­ reasons. I think the artists I have admired in the that I could still manipulate-and extend that initial past have always had those reasons. Picasso, for concept to a different state, so much more easily instance. He had a very definite need , right after in monotype than in lithography, which, as we the war, to become involved in lithography-it was know, is a very complicated process, requiring the a new medium that charged hi s imagination, that opening and reopening the stones. challenged his sensibilities .. . I found it easier to explore concepts or ideas Certainly the small size of Picasso's editions sug­ with monotype. In one day I could go through eight gests that his concern was much more for the ev­ progressive states , each one different from the pre­ olution of the image on the stone than it was for vious one, each one modifying my initial idea. By editioning. Many fine states were printed only in the end of the day I would find myself visually in two or three impressions. The attitude is similar to a place that I couldn't possibly have anticipated at the one you have expressed in our conversation . the beginning. Through a long series of some ninety Let me come back to your remark that many CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 . 9 Group of art ist with Chaim Koppelman (second from left) and Robert Blackburn (fourth from left) in the Seventeenth Street Workshop. 1956.

ROBERT BLACKBURN yo un g artist, he shared a studio adj acent to the Art An Investment in an Idea Center with Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Ronald Josephs, and Claude McKay. While the e arti sts provided arti ti c stimulus to one another Father Di vine provided them with comfort and c h ea~ by Elizabeth Jones meals. The Art Center gave them a forum in which they could ex press themselves and ex pect to be heard; it also offered them opportunities, free of TH E HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITH OGRAP HY is pop­ charge, to become acquainted with new techniques ulated by many colorful, talented figures. One man and media . who stands out among them, in spite of hi s self­ Riva He!fond Barrett , a practicing artist and gal­ effacing nature, is Robert Bl ackburn. He deserves lery director, introduced Bl ackburn to the " mys­ not onl y the gratitude of the arti sts and students teri es of lithography" at the Harlem Art Center. who have been fo rtunate enough to work wi th him , Only the si mpl est techniques were used: black and but al o the acknowledgement of those who have white drawings made with crayons and tusche on felt his influence indirectl y. During his long and stone, in the "so-call ed Ash Can School" style. distinguished career, he has been the first to explain More elaborate tec hniques took a bac k seat to the the technical complex ities of lithography to many necessitie of " learning how to draw and print the of the noted artists for whom he has printed. Al­ stone." though he ha never sought personal fa me or for­ Barrett 's initial in piration captured Blackburn's tune in th e world of lithography, Bl ac kburn has imagi nation and made him hunger for a better un­ stri ven with determined consistency to maintain the derstanding of the medium . He went to George C. rich heritage of the med ium through periods of Miller, the dominant professional printer in ew economic depression and to develop its potential York City between 1917 and 1960, and asked him in times of prosperity. In so doi ng, he has en­ for information on printing technique . Bl ackburn countered and overcome enormou hurdles in a recalls his disappointment when , as he tells it , Miller struggle to protect and stimulate the med ium that responded: " Young man , if you want to learn any- he love .

Robert Bl ackburn first became acquainted with I. Interview wi th Robert Blackburn, The Printmaking Work­ lithography in 1938 at the Harl em Community Art shop, New York , 13 July 1978. This and all subsequent Center on !25th Street in New York City. 1 As a quotations, not otherwise footnoted. are from thi s interview. 10 thing from me, you' ll have to spend a hundred dollars a week, and I' ll teach you something." A hundred doll ars a week was a fortune at the time a fortune too great fo r young Blackburn , who though turned away by Miller was determined not to be defeated. Hi s opportunity came in 1940 when he received a scholarship from the Harmen Foundati on to at­ tend the Art Students League of ew York , where he studied lithography with Will Barnet. Unlike th ~ League's earlier instructors and lithographic pnnters-among them , Joseph Penne ll , Charl es Locke, and Grant Arnold- Barnet was a pai nter as well as a printmaker; he taught classes in painting as well as lit hography at the League. 2 Thi s multi­ media experience made Barnet especiall y sensi ti ve to the expressive qualities of color, whi ch was little used by the printmakers of the thirties. While ex­ Robert Blackburn. periments with color enli vened the woodcuts and ter. Subsequently, however, Blackburn added one Windowed Shapes. etchings of the fo rties, many lithographers contin­ 1963. etching press to the five lithograph presses that ued to work solely in bl ack and white and , char­ already shared his limited space. acteri sti call y, in traditional, fig urati ve styles of Although Bl ackburn offered tructu red classes drawing. 3 It was with Barnet' s encouragement that in lithography several ni ghts a week, he conducted Bl ackburn began hi s di scovery of color in lithog­ the workshop itself in an open arrangement. Stu­ raph y. dent and arti sts had access to unlimited use of the It was the po li cy of the Art Students League to fac ilities; more important , they received inspirati on separate art from technique in the lithography classes, and support fro m the enthusiasm shared by the where students were seldom a ll owed to print their community of artists. While intaglio printmaking own work. Professional printers were hired to su­ was ex peri encing a li vely revival through the en­ pervise the technical aspects of the classes and to couragement of Hayter and Ateli er 17 , lithography pull the editions. A few tudents, fasc inated with had fa ll en on hard times. The medi um was snu bbed the possibilities of the medium, offered thei r ser­ by th e abstract expressioni st pain ters of ew York vices as spongers and paper-handlers in order to who aw it a a " sad, retrograde" art : good in have an opportunity to observe the well-guarded their opinion only fo r the colorl ess, fig urati ve technical secrets of the printer . It was thus that drawi ngs of th e social reali sts. The Bob Bl ackburn Will Barnet gleaned Grant Arnold 's secrets and in workshop safeguarded lithography fo r a nucleus of turn , that Bob Blackburn learned from Barnet. ' At artists who refused to abandon a medium they loved. the League on weekends Bl ackburn would assist Will Barnet, John von Wicht , Romas Vi esul as, Clare Barnet in the printi ng of the accomplished work of Romano, Arnold Singer, Antonio Frasconi , and other Raphael Soyer and other promi nent arti sts, as well establi hed artists strengthened the workshop pro­ as the work of students; it was th rough such work gram with a free exchange of ideas and techn iques. with Barnet that Bl ackburn gained the basi of his Their spiritual leader hi p bolstered Bl ackburn's ef­ technical knowledge. fo rts and kept the workshop alive. Thi hard-earned apprenticeshi p-an exchange Spiritual support counted for a lot in those days of work fo r free lessons-paid off in 1948 when when lit hography was, on the one hand, despi ed Elizabeth Jones, Bl ackburn set up hi s own work shop at Ill West by the avant garde and, on the other, jealously who received her Seventeenth Street in New York . Bob Bl ackburn 's guarded by the craft uni ons. The dearth of techn ical Ph.D. degree at Print.ing Workshop (renamed the Creati ve Graphics literature and the secrecy of the unions frustra ted the University of StudiO m 1955) provided equipment and working even th e most devout lith ographers. Every scrap New Mexico, now space for students and arti sts who wanted to make of Bl ackburn' s technical knowledge was thus ac­ teaches at lith o.g r a p~ s ·: ~ith og r a ph y was the onl y printmaking quired th rough determined struggle. He remembers the University medium Initiall y offered at the workshop, since that of Wisconsin , fac ilitie for etching were then avail able at Ate li er Green Bay. 17 under the directorship of Stanley William Hay- we didn't have any idea how someth ing like photo­ lnhography worked. We couldn't get the chemicals; they made it a secret. Even th ough I worked in offset 2. Interview wi th Will Barnet, New York . 23 April 1978. house , one of the strangest th ings was to fi nd th at.

3. ~ hh o u g h a major emphasis had been placed upon color alt hough I was interested and I knew all the people lithography at the graphics workshop of the Federal Art Project in New York duri ng the 1930s, the effect of that stimulus was not strongly fe lt duri ng the 1940s. 4. Interview with George Me eil, New York, 2 1 April 1978. I I trated once again since, as in Ameri ca, " they would not let me even go downstairs to see the stones r-;-,ve-o'c_LO__ c_K -- ....,_-!~-~~ . being ground." Although Blackburn fa il ed to glean any technical knowledge from the workshops, he later said that the European experi ence ~~- changed my whole attitude about being here in Amer­ ~--<'S/0' J ica and made me a different person. It made me very much freer in my relati onships with Americans in general. Many things that existed in Europe for me as a Black Ameri can made me aware of some things that did not exist in Ameri ca but it also made me aware of some of the things th at did exist in Amer­ ica-positi ve things. The Blackburn workshop continued to operate while the printer was in Eu rope. Upon hi s return in 1955 , Bl ackburn faced diffic ult responsibil ities which caused him to consider closing the shop . A number of artists, including Chaim Koppelman, Larry Potter, and Gus Leiber, prevailed upon him Larry Rivers and Frank O'Hara. '' Five O'Clock .. to keep the shop going by fo rming a cooperati ve. Plate 10 fro m Stones. 1957-60. 366 x 456 mm. Co ll ection, The Museum of Modem Art . New York. Graduall y, however, these supporters dri fted away Gi ft of Mr. and Mrs. E. Powis Jones . and Blackburn was left on hi s own again :

They could always disappear whenever they wanted. Their in vestment was not so great but mine was an I worked with , union rules pro hibited them from let­ in vestment in an idea. We never operated on doll ars ting me know anything about anything because I was and cents. If I had believed in that. the workshop not in the un ion. They would hide fo rmulas behind woul d have been closed ten ti mes over. The shop has the calendars on the wall s, and I woul d see them never made money and it possibly will never make sneaking ... to see the fo rmulas so I woul d not know any unless it becomes a commercial ve nture . The how to do it. We now fi nd that these things are so mi nute it becomes th at kind of venture. it will no bas ic and simple, a child can almost do them. but it longer be available to the youn ger up-and-coming was part of the craft secrecy that abounded at that arti sts. If it's money you want , then don't run work­ time to keep the competitio n out. shops. But if you love what is going on, then it is Blackburn graduall y expanded his knowlege of an interesting area to get into . The true artis tic spiri t lithography through the experi ence of printing for has to be the basis of the organi zation. others. He printed editions fo r arti sts at the Nati onal Soon after hi s return from France, Blackburn Academy (1949) , Cooper Union ( 1950-1 967), and received an offer to print fo r Tatyana Grosman, at the New School fo r Social Research ( 1950-5 1) . director of the newl y-formed Uni versal Limited Art Functi oning both as a technician and as a " how­ Editions (ULAE). From 1957 to 1962 Bl ackburn to" teacher, Blackburn was one of the firs t bl ack commuted to West Islip, Long Island , where he men to instruct students in schools whi ch were " not coll aborated with many of Ameri ca' s fi nest artists, that sympatheti c to third world people teaching often introducing them fo r the fi rst time to the tech­ there." Hi s devoti on to lithography as a printer nical possibilities of lithography. Larry Ri vers, Jas­ eventuall y earned him teaching positions at New pe r J o hns , Ro be rt Ra usche nberg, Ro be rt York Uni versit y, Cooper Union, and Columbia Motherwell , Helen Frankenthaler, and Grace Har­ Uni versity ( 1970-1 982). ti gan are among the artists who worked in close In addition to hi s work as a printer for arti sts, coll aborati on with Bl ackburn while he printed at Bl ackburn also contributed to his lithographi c ex­ ULAE . pertise through work in France during 1953 and Grosman insisted that everyone and everyth ing 1954 while on a fellowship fro m the John Hay in the workshop be put totall y at the service of Whitney Foundati on. Exhibitions at the Cincinnati " her" artists and their creati ve needs. Bl ackburn Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art stim­ was in complete agreement with Grosman's phi­ ul ated a revival of American interest in lithography losophy. He was aware 1hat some workshops " push in the early fifties. Artists began to travel abroad, the artist into a mold " which is " limited by [the] seeking to avail themselves of the printing services printer" and by the restricti ons of time and money. of the workshops that had produced the lithographs Both Grosman and Blackburn chose to devote their of Picasso and Chagall . Blackburn went to the Des­ li ves to a creati ve ideal which carried no guarantee jobert workshop, where he worked as an artist, of fa me or fortune. It demanded, on the contrary, hoping to absorb the techniques of the master print­ extraordinary perseverance and sacri fice, onl y ers through close observati on. He came away frus- promising returns of spiritual profit.

12 Bl ackburn's first collaborati on at ULAE illus­ trates the miraculous power of pure will , whi ch, alone, produced impressive results without fi nan­ cial support or technical prowess. Working on a small Fuchs and Lang pres in the li ving room of Grosman' s West Islip house, Blackburn encoun­ tered hi s first chall enge. The arti st Larry Ri vers had made drawings on two stones which Grosman had found imbedded as paving tones in the garden. The surfaces had been badl y grained , and Gro man had insisted that the impressions of the stones them­ selves be imbedded in the paper, a technical char­ acteri sti c of intaglio printing, not of lithography. These problems taxed the talents of the printer who, in spite of all obstacles, succeeded in producing the editions fo r the first ULAE publication, Stones, a coll aborati on between Larry Ri vers and the poet Frank O ' Hara. In the technologica ll y sophisti cated climate o f lithography today it is difficult to image the prim­ iti ve conditions under which these lithographs were produced . G rosman often carried the lithograph stones to the artists' studios where the drawings were made ; later, she transported them back to the workshop fo r printing. Only after the arti sts them­ selves experi enced the difficulty of unloading the stones did they begin to travel to the West Islip workshop. Blackburn worked alone at the press in th e small li ving room . Sometimes Tatyana Gros­ man or her husband Maurice assisted him in han­ dling the paper or sponging the stones. Grosman insisted th at once a stone was prepared fo r printing , it must be completely editioned on the same day:

I li ke that they start in the morni ng. In thi s mood he has today, and then he has 50 sheets of paper. If he pri nt s these 50 sheets of paper during the day, I think it's good. Because the next day to start he woul d have been copyin g the emoti o n of the fi rst day. So it becomes something mechani cal ... but a stone a day, I love that'

Bl ackburn be li eves this attitude ori ginall y de­ Robert Rauschenberg. Accidem. 1963. 978 x 692 mrn . ri ved from a traditional " intagli o mentalit y," as in Co llection, The Museum of Modem Art. New York . that medium the fi rst prints pulled are oft en better Gift of Celeste and Armand P. Bartos Foundation. than the later ones. Grosman's insistence on im­ pressing the stone into the paper in the first edition also indicates that she initiall y thought of lithog­ raphy in intagli o-like terms. Her fresh, though am­ ateurish, viewpoint provided a stimulus to new ways of thinking about the medium which, through the interpreti ve hands o f Blackburn, resulted in fin e and highl y ori ginal print . Blackburn and Grosman shared a common beli ef in the near-sanctity of the arti st's work: a belief whic h sustained them through the earl y peri ods of sacrifice and deprivati on. Bl ackburn has the fo l­ lowing memori es which well illustrate their de­ voti on to the cause:

5. Interview with Tatyana Grosman , ULAE. West Islip . Long Island . 14 July 1978. 13 The importance that she [Grosman] pl aced on the own workshop in 1963, now renamed The Print­ artist is very important. She wanted " her artists" (she making Workshop. always referred to them as " her artists" ) to have Blackburn has managed hi s workshop continu­ whatever they wanted . To me thi s was so beauti ful ; ously from 1948 to the present; it is thus the oldest this is what kept me there . For instance. Maurice non-profit lithography workshop in the United States. would be sent to Bay Shore to get scall ops because For many years he resisted seeking outside funds, Rauschenberg or Jasper [John s] wanted scall ops. So preferring to run a free ly-based, artist-managed es­ he would go all the way to Bay Shore . spend money tablishment. Ultimately, however, the surv ival and which she did not have, spend money on scall ops. It is the bri ng them back. Maurice woul d cook them and the growth of the workshop necessitated additional marriage of artist would eat. After everybody had gone, she would support . In 1970 he incorporated the workshop and the printer's go and make a little bowl of soup for herself because shortly thereafter began to receive funding from expertise with she had no money. And she would also try to include the New York State Arts Council , the Nati onal En­ the creative me, but I was always second to the artist. Many times dowment fo r the Arts, and the New York State energy of the she paid me money whi ch hurt because she did not Department of Cultural Affa irs. artist that makes have money to pay her telephone bill . She was li ke The Printmaking Workshop has expanded its the fine print. a bundle of intense energy; somewhere she acquired program far beyond the open workshop concept . a kind of inner 'strength that made her ab le to foc us The major emphasis of the shop is still that of on what she was doi ng and make it her li fe . I think providing workspace fo r newly arri ved aritsts, th is is the poetry of the woman, th is is the poetry of graduate students, and mature artists who cannot her creati on. Very few peopl e are will ing to offer so much. afford the services of commercial workshops. Classes are offered in lithography, intaglio printmaking, Blackburn, too, subordinated himself in order to and the photographic processes. Woodcut is also fulfill the artist's promise: presented on occasion. The shop provides a small Each artist is a distinctly different indi vidual. You gallery space for exhibition and sale of arti sts' work cannot take the same yardstick for Jasper and apply and it frequently prepares and distributes pri nt ex­ it to Rauschenberg. I think it ' s so important to pre­ hibitions. Bl ackburn and hi s staff often present serve the creative identity of the arti st. It is the mar­ printmaking demonstrati ons fo r the public as well. riage of the printer's experti se with the creati ve energy In an effort to popularize printmaking beyond of the artist that makes the fin e print, that makes the the confi nes of the art world , artists from The Print­ excepti onal, the unusual and the distinctive print. making Workshop go out into the community and If an artist comes in and wants to step on the stone , work with persons of all ages, from children to then the printer's genius is to fi nd out how to capture senior citizens. Blackburn believes this involve­ that. If he can do th at , then he is a great printer. He ment with the community "feeds the workshop in is a creati ve printer. The basic techniques are ex­ tremely simple; there is nothing so complicated. It 's some ways," by which he means in more ways being abl e to interpret the mood of thi s individual than mere monetary returns: who has something important to say that is important because what he has to say is the real truth . It gives the artists who come th rough the workshop an opportun ity to work with young people and to In 1962, after five years of devoting his energies experience the joy of seeing young people being turned to the work of other artists, Blackburn began to on by art . At the same time, they learn fro m the young fee l that he was " losing touch" with himself and people through their spontaneity, their directness, their hi s work . He had the mi sfortune of breaking two freedom. The people who have worked with these stones in the press. Ironi call y, this misfortune led young people in the community programs have fe lt to creati on of the first American lithograph to wi n charged by their experience. I think that to neglect internati onal recognition in contemporary compe­ the young people in our society is a drastic mistake tition. The artist, Robert Rauschenberg, insisted on to make. printing from the broken stone, a feat later accom­ Robert Blackburn has devoted hi s whole li fe to plished by Zigmunds Priede in 1963. 6 The appro­ the enrichment and support of young people seek­ priately titled result , Accident , won the fi rst prize ing the joys of printmaking. As an arti st, a printer, at the Fi fth International Bienni al of Graphics in a workshop manager, and a teacher, Blackburn has Ljublyana; the next year Rauschenberg won the touched many li ves. His effect has been fe lt not Grand Prize at the Veni ce Biennale. Ameri can li ­ only in hi s immediate contacts, but also in the art thography had arrived at last. works he has created and printed . In spite of this Blackburn, however, was overwhelmed by the impressive record of effecti veness and devotion, accident which later proved to be so fo rtuitous. Blackburn remains modest and unassuming. When This incident , coupled with his desire to work in­ complimented on his service to the art world through dependentl y, caused him to return full-time to his The Printmaking Workshop, Blakburn responded: " The artists are doing it themselves; the arti sts 6. Calvin Tomkins. ''Profi les: The Moods of a Stone, " The make the organization, and I am just one of the New Yo rker. 7 June 1976, p. 68. artists here." D 14 ART THAT IS REALLY NOT ART

by Gustave Harrow

IN THIS AGE OF DISSEMBLING. simulating, copying, While Assistant Attorney General of the State and fakery in all areas, including art, I thought I of New York, Gustave Harrow played a princi­ would choose as my topic "Art That Is Really Not pal role in the discussions and hearings that Art." The title has reference to the transportation led to the enactment of print disclosure of art from the original to the form it takes, at legislation by the New York Legislature. times, when it is prepared for public dissemination, Earlier, he served as lead counsel in or when it is copied for wider di stribution . protracted litigation involving the estate of l must confess, however, that the title itself is Mark Rothko. not entirely original. It was stimulated by an ex­ perience I had some two years ago, while an As­ Harrow is now Associate Professor of Law at the sistant Attorney General for New York State. At New York Law School and Director of the Center that time l received a complaint with respect to art for Law and the Arts, a unique institution being sold at the " Not Really Gallery," which was designed both to recognize the impact of the promoting certain art works as "fabulous fakes. " arts upon contemporary society and to respond Among the artists whose works were being shown to the repercussions of law and economics upon was one David Stein, who had, some ten years art and artistic creativity. Harrow describes earlier, been convicted for forging paintings of master the Center's purposes as twofolc!: "to serve as artists . At the earlier time he had copied works of a focal point for theoretical inquiry into famous artists but affixed his own name to the bot­ areas where fine arts, law and commerce tom front of the canvasses. Now, he was again converge; and to provide specialized educa­ copying works of famous artists , but his name only tional programs for professionals who will appeared on a certificate affixed to the back of the practice at these critical junctures." painting. The signature of the original artist was placed on the front. The works so copied by David Harrow's speech "Art That Is Really Not Art" was published by the 11\/ew York Artists Equity famous artists such as Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Association in June 1982 and is reprinted by Renoir, Chagall, and Dali. These copies were touted permission. as created in the "style of" the famous artists. They were available for sale at prices ranging from $1 ,000 to $3,000. Copies of prints of famous artists ranged from $ 175 to $250. At the time, we succeeded in having the Gallery agree not to sell any more of these works. It is not known whether they have surfaced elsewhere, in other jurisdictions or other countries. My objective, however, is not to focus upon thi s type of fakery. Rather, it is to use this type of abuse as illustrative of a far more profound problem af­ fecting the arts today. This involves, as I see it , conflict between the forces propelling all of us to­ ward standardization, on the one hand, and the essentials of artistic creativity on the other. Today consumer products are all mass produced and mass distributed. Communications are received through

15 mass media. Art itself is frequently mass produced a good quality poster. Normally, posters of this kind for mass audiences or mass consumption. Pitted can be purchased in museum shops for some ten , against these forces is the need for expression through fifteen , twenty, or thirty dollars. These, however, an art which is individual and spontaneous. Serious were being promoted at four hundred dollars each, artistic creativity, after all , is by definition the cre­ on the assumption that the purchaser would forget ation of something that is unique. As such, it must that what was being purchased was nothing more of necessity be " different" and not standardized. than a " reproduction." Accordingly, while standardization imposes con­ Another example involves the Picasso heirs. They It behooves us straints and repression upon individual expression, have entered into contracts giving the right to copy, all to rise whether externally or internally induced, the need in a print medium such as a lithographic process, against "art that for free, spontaneous individual expression is in­ the original works of Picasso, whether on canvas is not really tegral to art. Moreover, vital creative expression or in other mediums. The probable design is to sell art." You as must of necessity often be overtly critical of stand­ the copies. made after Picasso's death by a different artists are at ardization and constraints upon the individual. artist, as something more closely connected to Pi­ the center of In a broader sense this tension involves the con­ casso than in fact they are. In reality, there is no this battle. flict between repressive forces in all forms and connection to Picasso, since the process involves freedom generally. In addressing himself to the an artist copying an original Picasso in a different definition of freedom. Erich Fromm in Escape from medium-with the consent of Picasso's heirs. Freedom wrote: In this connection, Robert Bronner, President df the Society of American Graphic Artists, noted that .. . positive freedom consists in the spontaneous ac­ tivity of the total , integrated personality ... it is not one of his students informed him that he regularly the activity of the automaton, which is the uncritical receives large sheaves of blank paper from abroad, adoption of patterns suggested from the outside . each one signed by a well known contemporary Spontaneous activity is free activity of the self and European artist. The student than makes prints in implies, psychologicall y. what the Latin root of the the artist's style, and they are sold by unscrupulous word , sponte, means literally : of one's free wi ll. merchants as works of the named artist. Also in this connection, a well known sculpture collector, He then goes on to write: B. G . Cantor, recently almost purchased a Rock­ ... we know of individuals who are--{)r have been­ efeller reproduction of a Rodin sculpture, thinking spontaneous, whose thinking, feeling , and acting were it was an original. It was only in the nick of time the expression of their se lves and not of an automaton. that he di scovered the object he was about to pur­ These individuals are mostly know n to us as arti sts. chase was not in fact an original Rodin, but only ... As a matter of fact , the artist can be defined as a copy of an original that was in the Rockefeller an individual who can express himself spontaneo usly. . . . There are other individuals who. though lacking collection . the ability--{)r perhaps merely the training-for ex­ In another context there was the recent report in pressing themselves in an objective medium as the the New York Tim es of how Stephen Crane's great artist does , possess the same spontaneity. Civil War novel Red Badge of Courage was dis­ torted . The article, which appeared in the Times Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J . Goldberg on April 2, 1982, includes the following state­ has written: ments: In a complex, modern soc iety like our own. art of The novel was cut and changed for publication in all kinds is called to one of the essential services of 1895 to popularize it and play down some of its freedom-to free man from the mass. Art-whether gloominess . The new edition is 55.000 words-5.000 on the stage. in a gallery. or in a concert hall-asserts longer than the edition that students consider the last the supremacy of the indi vidual. word. . .. Henry Binder. the editor who recon­ The following situations, all of which involve structed the edition. acknowledged that. even in its "art that is not really art," illustrate the manner in 1895 version. the novel is a masterpiece ; neverthe­ less. he said in an interview: "The book's perceptions which commercial forces have the capacity to con­ and the author's motives will now have to be re­ trol , corrupt, and standardize art. examined by sc holars and students. For the full novel First, there is the example of the Not Really emerges as a richer work of the imagination and a Gallery and its "fabulous fakes ," already referred much more modern view of the ambi gu ities in the to . American character. It is not simply an improvement, Then there is the example of the advertisements but comes close to being a different novel. ... Now which appeared in the New York Times not too long the characteristic psychological and moral irony that ago, which promoted a Wyeth reproduction of one run s through Crane 's other work is restored because of his paintings. These advertisements were de­ this is the book he really wrote. " signed to induce purchasers to think they were buy­ Illustration of the manner in which commer­ ing something "original. " In fact , these copies were cialism has the power to corrupt artistic creations the product of high-grade, photo-mechanical pro­ is easily found in movie-making and television as cesses. In other words, what was being sold was well . Orson Welles and Tennessee Williams have

16 complained of the manner in which their fi lms have the pressures gravitating towards standardization­ been cut so that the end product distorts the arti st's and I am convinced that it is; and if free and ro bust art. So too, there is the emerging problem of cor­ arti sti c expression is a precondition for freedom of porate sponsors of te levision programs. Even clas­ expression generall y and therefore freedom-and sics can be port rayed so as to lessen " gloomy" I know th at it is; then it behooves us all to ri se aspects. Holl ywood, of course, prefers " happy against "art that is not reall y art." endings ." We hear statements such as " PBS means You as arti sts are at the center of this battle, and Petroleum Broadcasting System," and references much turns and will tum upon your energies and to television as the " lube tube. " dedication. New York Artists Equity, I know, was What these illustrati ons have in common is the born in , and nurtured by, urges to preserve and danger-even the likelihood--of distortion: dis­ develop capac ities fo r producing art of integrity, tortion of the artist's work as ori ginall y imagined and I am confi dent it is in that area where your and conceived. When th is happens, the arti st's por­ greatest contribution will be fe lt. D trayal, statement, or image, while marketed as the artist's art , in fact is not reall y the art of the artist. The impact of " art that is not reall y the arti st's art"-that is, the corruption of art- is fe lt on three OLIVEIRA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9. levels. First, there is the consumer fraud in volved . On this level, the consumer is paying for something lithographs have been made for the wrong reasons. with the understanding that it is one thing-that it Your implication would seem to be that th e ri ght is genuine art- but is receiving something that is reason for an artist to use a medium is as a means quite di ffe rent. On another level, the perception of of extending a creative statement, and that all other art is impaired . The observer or perceiver of such moti vations are wrong. Is this what you mean to art necessaril y experi ences something quite di ffer­ say? ent from the original work of art . This fosters con­ Ri ght. I have been in the situati on of mak ing a fusion or misunderstanding as to the real work of lithograph that simply had to be printed in a large the artist, what the artist is capable of producing edition . There was very little desire to get in volved and what the artist intended to express. On thi s in it. It was a terrible feeling. level, we have the potential of widespread mi s­ At certain times there are certain needs. Work understandings as to the capacity of art to stimulate must be done because of its significance. That is deepl y fe lt responses. Fin all y, there is the level at an essential condition fo r the fin e prints that I be­ which the artist's work is simply being misrepre­ lieve we are to see. sented. The artist's statement , as in Stephen Crane's Getting back to monotype: We were ta!Xi ng about Red Badge of Courage , is distorted into something the potential of the monotype medium, and I ex­ not intended by the artist. The result , whether fro m pressed how much easier it was to deal with the the point of view of the purchaser-consumer, or monotype in changing concepts and ideas. I had from the point of view of the observer-perceiver, at that time a graduate teaching assistant, James or from the point of view of the artist, is something Janecek, who recogni zed that one could make a that is diluted, inappropriate, and perhaps entirely seri es of monotypes and , when one arrived at a untrue. Additionall y, if art which is not reall y art fin e, rare statement , could take that monotype and proli fe rates , curatori al, archival, scholarl y, and transfer it to stone . One could then go back into critical functi ons will be impaired . In this area, in the image, alter it , and give it the personality of additi on to the traditional di ffic ulties confronted , lithography. Janecek is continuing to research and there is the need to discover and separate the orig­ improve this process . inal from its diluted or corrupted copy or facs imile. I look fo r those instruments that are available, We must come to grip with these corrosive forces. that can serve the artist, the total personality of the If art is a way of expressing spontaneous percep­ artist. In monotype you can make a single impres­ ti ons; if art is a way of making contact with our sion, or it can take you through a sequential de­ individuali zed selves; if art is a way of holding the velopment. It can stimulate concepts--<::oncepts mirror to our social and personal experiences; and whic h can be transferred to the stone and become if art is an indispensible way of critiquing and in­ the beginning of a lithograph. tegrating contemporary experi ence, then the cor­ I am not against people making their li ving or ruption of art-through the disseminati on of that against the ethic of editions. My onl y concern in which is " not reall y" the artist's art--<::onstitutes that area is that an artist should be able to make a pervasive threat to freedom. the finest lithographs he or she can make. One If seri ous art-in its various modalities and me­ aspect of true master printers is a desire to extend diums-is essential in coping with our mass, tech­ themselves so as to explore and reali ze an idea or nologicall y dominated society-and I think it is; if an attitude that might be of a high degree of inti­ serious art is interdependent with, and essenti al for, macy fo r the artist. The spirit of the idea is crucial. the preservation of indi viduality in the face of all This is where I sit , so to speak. D 17 ALBERT WINSLOW BARKER Graphite Crayons and Sea Salt

by Ronald Netsky

ALTHO UG H THE TECH ICAL IN OVATIO S of the past twenty-five years have made lithography into a highly complex art fo rm, it is important from time to time to look back on those made by some of the men who contributed to the evolution of the medium at an earlier time. Albert Winslow Barker, one of the most suc­ cessful of the students of Bolton Brown, was re­ sponsible for a technical innovation that has been undeservedly forgotten. 1 Born in 1874 into a family of quarry owners (for three generations before him)/ Barker broke from tradition to tudy art. Ironically, after a variety of college degrees and careers, he spent the last twenty years of his life very much involved with stone. Admitted to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts at the age of sixteen, Barker was graduated five year later. At twenty-nine he was teaching industrial arts at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Art. He received an A. B. degree from Haverford College in 1917, graduating with highest honors and winning a fellowship to Harvard Univer ity. 1"\.1 __,...,_... .~ ...... ~ 'r-to...... , Because of Harvard' participation in the war ef­ ~,.\ ..... , - .. ~r- -~ l.t....-\... )'{~ v , L \o-" k ... ,-r--.,.. .-rr

{\.-o\W t .. ~') 'r .... M\c... (- "- '-"""";- ~·-· ..l. ,.....J fort , the courses (in Greek) which Barker wished ~~ ... • "'"!"~ + .,... .. ,,.~~. to take were not to be offered in 1918; so, regret­ lt..,) ~V."--~, I'; .._\( l fully, he declined the scholarship. In 1921 he earned a Ph .D. degree in classics and classical Greek ar­ cheology from the University of Pennsylvania. From 1922 to 1929 Barker served as director of art education in the Wilmington Public School sys­ tem in Delaware. In the summer of 1927, like other artists before him, he was drawn to Woodstock to r.• .o • i.:JJ.S. study with Bolton Brown, the one true master of ,,, crayonstone lithography in that period.3 The weeks he spent with Brown proved to be the turning point a w . ~ of his life.

I. The writing of thi s article would not have been pos ible ABOVE: Albert W. Barker. Tenth Month , Second, c. 1935-36. Collection. John without the help of John Menihan , an artist-friend of Albert Menihan. This lithograph wa included in Barker's 1936 pamphlet in which he de­ Barker and a student of Bolton Brown . Mr. Menihan now scribed his graphite crayon and printing process ( ee text). lives in Rochester, New York . BELOW: Albert W. Barker. Crayon No . 10 (Test Sheet) . Barker's note to John 2. See Elizabeth Whitmore. "Albert Winslow Barker: Poet and Menihan reads: " Here's formula and test-sheet of a new crayon- not better than Lithographer." Print Collector's Quarterly 27 ( 1940): 274- o. 8, but different and for another kind of work. Firmer-good for line-work ." 99 . 3. See Bolton Brown . " My Ten Years in Lithography," TTP 5: 8-25 and 36-54.

18 Bolton Brown's obsession with lithography was published manual. " To speak plainly," he wrote in passed on to many of his students; Barker was no July 1930, " I have spent fifteen years of time in exception. The bl ack and white medium may have extensive study of every side of artistic lithogra­ had an added appeal for Barker, who was partially phy." Brown proposed a book "written by you colorblind. 4 From 1927 on, he channeled hi s cre­ [Barker] and revised and approved by me." ative energy into making lithographs and experi­ In August 1930 Barker agreed to Brown's sug­ menting with c rayon formulas a nd printing gestion to publish the book under both their names, techniques. with an introduction by Brown. Barker did not wish He set up a studio at hi s home in Moylan, Penn­ to see the words, " revised by," appear on the title sylvania, and spent the rest of his life drawing the page, but he agreed that the use of both of their surrounding countryside and its inhabitants on stone. names would add to the strength of the book. 5 Barker maintained an active correspondence with In 1936 Barker published a pamphlet, including his teacher until Brown's death in 1936. Over one an original lithograph, in which he described hi s hundred letters were written in a ten year period. most innovative contribution to the study of li­ Brown, who sometimes stayed at Barker's house thography. In it he disclosed the formula for aver­ in Moylan on his way to of from Bluffton, Georgia, satile #8 crayon, using amorphous graphite, "a where he spent the winter months during his later chemically inert mineral lubricant," as its primary years , wrote to thank Barker warmly for hi s hos­ ingredient. 6 But the most striking part of his pam­ pitality. Though they became great friends and wrote phlet was the announcement of a lithographic print­ of personal as well as professional matters, they ing process which did not make use of an acidified continued throughout their correspondence to refer etch. This was accompli shed by mixing magnesium to one another as Mr. Brown and Mr. Barker. chloride (the chemical closest to sea salt) in the Barker knew that Brown had completed a book damping water. on lithography and was anxious to see it published . Barker had noticed that sea water with a high He wrote several letters to the University of Chi­ salt content made people fee l damp long after they cago Press praising Brown and inquiring about the left the water. When printing his lithographs, Bar­ book. Barker had at this time written hi s own book ker desired a perpetually wet stone, so he tried on lithography, and soon after the publication of adding "sea salt" to his damping water. He in­ Brown's book (Lithography for Artists. Chicago: cluded this suggestion in his unpublished manu­ University of Chicago, 1930.) , Barker sent his script. (Brown penciled a comment in the margin: manuscript to Brown for comments. " I, at least, do not know what sea salt is ." In a Bolton Brown read it with a critical eye and a letterof20July 1929, however, Brown stated, " In biting pencil. He did not think the proposed title, hot dry weather the printing goes better if you put " Printmaker's Lithography, " was clear enough, and salt or glycerine in the damping water.") he found fault with much of the method Barker Barker's crayon was capable of drawing in the described. Hi s comments ranged from a simple rain because it was water resistant: a quality of " Ouch! " marginally noted in the chapter on etching which both he and Brown were fond . In his pam­ to more reasoned explanations. When Barker sug­ phlet, Barker explained the three advantages of thi s gested putting the stone away for two or three weeks crayon and of the procedures for processing and after etching it , Brown commented, " This is ex­ printing drawings made with it : The crayon con­ traordinary and certainly news to me. [Few artists] tai ns no soap; it is not soiubie in water; and, with would want to wait long enough for a summer use of magnesium chloride in the damping water, vacation after they had done their drawing ." He the surface of the stone will stay evenly damp on added that he often printed on the day after George both image and non-image areas. Because of these Bellows drew on a stone. three advantages, Barker stated , the image would Brown thought that Barker's suggestion about "clamping the block or stone in place" was " quite 4. Alice P. Barker, ""Albert W. Barker," unpublished manu­ superfluous. " As for allowing " clearance for the Ronald Netsky script, 1949. In the co llection , Papers of Albert W. Barker, handle and the run of the press," Brown declared , the Bryn Mawr College Library, Gift of Elizabeth Barker is Assistant " anybody who needs to be told this is an idiot. " and Agnes Davis. Professor of Art He frequently advised Barker not to scare the be­ 5. A manuscript copy of Barker 's book , " Printmaker's Li­ at Nazareth ginner with needless complications. He warned thography," wi th comment by Bolton Brown, is included College in among the Barker papers in the Bryn Mawr College Library. against including prices in the book ($9. 50 for a Rochester, Also included in thi s collection is correspondence between Schmatz hand roller, for example), as " price has Barker and Brown. Quotations from this correspondence are New York. no stability," and also against suggesting limitation used with permission of the Bryn Mawr College Library. of the size of the stone: " (If] some genius like Barker's daughter Agnes Davis believes that Barker com­ Bellows love[s] to make big drawings-no use dis­ pleted a final version of hi s manuscript some years later. This manuscript has not been found , although she believes couraging him." it may still exist. Brown had misgivings about a second book fo l­ 6. See also articles on use of graphite in lithography published lowing so closely on the heels of his own just in TTP 1:65-69 and 110- 15 ; and TTP 2:15.

19 not darken or "gain " ink over the course of an edition. In December 1935 Brown wrote to hi s friend. "As for me I shall not go south for fear I should FROM TOP TO BOTTOM : I . The materials are assembled. includ­ die there-I'd rather die at home." Barker, who ing a scale to weigh the ingredient s. 2 . The heated mixture is knew that Brown was suffering from cancer and poured into the mold. 3. A spatula is used to press it firmly into the mold . 4. The hardened crayons are turned out of the rapidly weakening, answered, " Though I am a mold. hundred miles away, I mi ght still be a help if I know what and how." Brown died the following year, in 1936. Barker continued to make crayons and litho­ graphs, carrying on the traditional dedication of hi s teacher and friend , until hi s death in 1947. Hi s lithographs are wonderful , timeless images that transcend the fashionable movements of the time. Beautifully composed landscapes reveal a thorough knowledge of lighting, tone, and texture. Fine draftsmanship together with expressive strokes of crayon and razorblade are uniquely and success­ fully combined in his drawings. Respect for the common man and the land he inhabits are evident in Barker's many lithographs of hi s neighbors working the soil. Like Brown, Barker believed that only those who etched and printed their own stones were fully de­ serving of the title, " lithographer. " In this sense, Albert Barker was certainly one of the finest litho­ graphers of the early twentieth century.

Barker's Graphite Crayon Barker's graphite crayon will be found to be ex­ tremely stong and versatile. Much harder than a Kom's crayon, it holds a point well and provides a drawing tool that closely resembles a lead pencil. The crayon should be made in a well-ventilated room , in the fo llowing manner:

I. Melt together 19 parts (by weight ) carnauba wax . 30 parts steari c acid, and 3 part s o li ve oil. An old fryi ng pan on a hot plate is suitabl e for this pur­ po e . For a softer crayon. use 14 parts carnauba wax and 35 parts stearic ac id. 2. Stir in 48 parts amorphous graphite and mix in the pan for about five minutes. or until all ingre­ dients are thoroughl y melted together. 3. Quickly pour the contents of the pan into a mold made of one-quarter inch aluminum channel. Heating the mold with a hair dryer before pouring the mixture into it will cause the mixture to spread more evenl y and dry more slowly. 4. Quickly spread and smooth wi th a palette kni fe. 5. Let the crayons harden in the mold. Cold air or water will speed up the hardening without harming the crayons. 6. Push the hardened crayons out of the mold. Small. I unusable pieces can be remelted and recast. \ \ 20 FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: I . Gum is applied to the stone. 2. The image is washed out. 3. The stone is inked wi th the ro ller. 4. A proof is pulled at the press.

Test drawing by Robin Stephens.

Processing and Printing Images Drawn with Barker's Crayon Drawings made with Barker's crayon may be pro­ cessed immediately after their completion. An aci­ dified etch is not required. The procedure is as follows:

I. Pour and spread gum arabi c on the stone and buff it down to a ti ght film . 2. Pour on lithotine and wash out the drawing. 3. Add a few drops of asphaltum to the lithotine (not yet dry on the stone) and buff it down . 4. Wash off the gum with a wet sponge and roll up the stone , using norm al water on the damping sponge . 5. When the image is rolled up to full strength , wring out the sponge and switch to Barker water. Barker water is water mi xed with magnesium chloride to a specifi c gravity of 1.022. If you do not have a hydrometer, use one level teaspoon to a quart of water. 6. From this point on, ink, sponge (with Barker water), and print normall y. If dampened paper is used, it should be dampened with Barker water. It is possible, within limitations, to make additions to Barker-method images without counteretching. These additions can be made with a Barker crayon after pulling a proof but before re-inking the stone. When the stone is inked some of the added lines and tones may not be visible, but most will be retained and will remain stable throughout an edi­ ti~n . By building up areas gradually over two or three impressions, it is usually possible to achieve a desired result. Through experience, one can gauge the subtleness that can be achieved. D 21 TAMARIND TESTS ings. The Barker crayon demonstrated its great sta­ OF THE BARKER CRAYON bility through a range of etches from pH 4 .0 to 2.5. Even the hottest etches Kline used did not burn the pale tones drawn with the Barker crayon. With etches at pH 3.5 it was still possible-as with unacidified gum arabic (pH 4.6)-to make addi­ USING SOME BARKER CRAYONS supplied by Ronald tions to the image without first counteretching the Netsky, Tamarind printer-fellow Wayne Kline con­ stone. These additions appeared to be stable ducted a series of tests in which drawings made throughout the small edition that Kline subse­ with these crayons were processed and printed as quently printed; additions made on areas etched at described above. Kline found the Barker crayon to pH 3.5 printed somewhat lighter than those made be a most attractive and versatile material. It sharp­ on areas etched with unacidified gum. ens and holds a point well-far better than Korn's Our conclusion is that the Barker crayon is an copal crayon (No. 5); it moves easily across the excellent material , although we would prefer to stone, and facilitates the development of even grey modify the Barker processing method. Barker water tones. Tones may ,be developed rapidly with the has little effect other than to retard the drying of side of the crayon, without the risk of the char­ the stone-perhaps a convenience to a printer acteristic irregularities caused by the "sticky" Kom's working in conditions of low humidity or without crayons with which all lithographers are familiar. a press assistant. When an image is etched with Kline found, however, after processing the stone straight gum, a full coat of asphaltum should be according to the Barker method, that when the im­ applied after it is washed out; this will cause the age was printed, it had a pronounced tendency to image to roll up more quickly, thus preventing scum . scum. Alternatively, a very mild etch (pH 3.5) may be Other test drawings were made and processed used, while retaining the advantages of the Barker using conventional processing techniques. Rather method. In either case, before printing an edition, than add asphaltum into the still wet washout, Kline rosin and talc should be applied in preparation for first washed the drawing out, dried the stone, then a second etch-at about pH 3.0, depending upon applied asphaltum and buffed it down , as is our the character of the drawing-so as to produce an standard practice at Tamarind. Alternative etches adsorbed gum film sufficiently stable to support were then applied to different parts of the test draw- sustained printing.-C.A. D

LO-SHU WASHES on me: The achievement had been the result of my ability to trust completely in an intuitive feeling for the lithographic process. As soon as I realized how much an intuitive response-as opposed to by Rebecca Bloxham sound knowledge-had determined my initial suc­ cess in lithography, my confidence gave way to doubt. I could not bring myself to return to class. LO-SH U translates: Patterns of the river Lo. A year went by before I had the courage to enroll It is a cosmic plan which, according to leg­ in another lithography class. The experience then end, was said to have been given to the great proved to be a disaster and a nightmare; anything cultural hero Yu by a god in the form of a that could go wrong, did. I was trying too hard . tortoise that rose from the depths of the river In desperation I realized that I somehow had to Lo with the sacred markings on its shell. integrate the intuitive with the rational. The catalyst became my discovery of Senefelder's autobio­ The Discovery graphical account of his invention of lithography. LITHOGR APHY IS A MYSTERIOUS PROCESS . I became Reading about hi s experience once again ignited intrigued with it the first time I saw a drawing in me the sense of excitement I had felt in making disappear from a stone and then, not only reappear, my first prints, that of being on the edge of dis­ but do so with the ability to reproduce itself through covery. printing. The second semester was spent painfully, as was The first four prints that I made came so easily the third. Without a repetition of my early success that I assumed anyone could print. I entered these in lithography, my struggles with the rational and prints in a student art show and they won the print­ the intuitive gave way to grit. All my efforts proved making award. This unwarranted success only con­ unsuccessful , yet the feeling persisted that there firmed my feelings about the ease with which the was something for me in the medium. I enrolled art of lithography could be mastered. Then the truth for a fourth semester and by the end of the third of what actually had happened suddenly dawned week finished two drawings that I liked. As I was

22 about to process the two plates a fe ll ow student , anxious to use the press, volunteered to assist me. In our haste, we processed the two pl ates together and when the image was completely open, having just been cleaned with a powerful solvent , a few drops of water fe ll on the surface. I stared in di sbe­ lief at my ruined drawing , watching with de pair as the water droplets graduall y grew small er. I then noti ced that as they disappeared th ey left behind a beauti ful design of shrinking concentric circles, a reti cul ati on pattern . The profound apologies that were fo rthcoming went unnoti ced by me as I began to recogni ze on th e otherwise ruined pl ate, physical evidence of something visuall y new. I rubbed lacquer and as­ phaltum over the plate, wondering if the reti cul a­ ti on patterns would surv ive. l picked up the inking roll er with expectant anticipati on and when I fin ­ Cellulose gum in alcohol. Hydrogum in alcohol. is hed rolling they were there: deli cate white lines in beauti ful contrast to a velvety bl ack background. To me they were exquis ite and l savored the mo­ ment , reali zing that there were many unsettling questions to be answered before this discovery could be used as a technique in drawing. Was the image tabl e? Could it be repeated? Could the washes, the line , and the reti cul ati on be controlled? What sort of vari ety might be achieved? Was this a useful and printable drawing method? Did it have aes­ theti c merit? What had taken pl ace between the plate and the water to cause these images to appear? I still do not have a sati sfactory answer to the last questi on, other than the obvious observati on that it is a stop-out process. Since that time, ex­ tensive tests have been conducted on both pl ates and stones and the validity of these washes- whi ch I call Lo-Shu- has been establi shed. The drawing process can be controll ed , the plate can be stabi­ lized and the image can be printed . Not onl y can a great vari ety of materi als and methods of drawing ABOVE: Hydrogen peroxide. Gum arabi c in water. be employed but, what is more, additions can be BELOW: Hydrogum in alcohol. made and the drav.t ing restabili zed. Several art- is ts- among them Wulf Barsch and Wayne Kim­ ball- have used the Lo-Shu technique and each has reali zed a visuall y unique result. The vari ety of expression th at has been achieved with Lo-Shu washes has convinced me that I have seen onl y the beginning of their possibilities and that their range of expression is as extensive as are traditional litho­ graphic tusche and crayon.

The Method DR AW ING WITH LO-SH U WAS HES is nearl y the same as drawing with tusche washes. The differences are that there is no pigmentation and that the resulting reti culation will be white line in a dark fi eld . The fluid-mix chosen fo r the Lo-Shu wash can be ap­ plied with a brush and guided by the artist just as any other wash can be, the reticulation patterns Red wine vinegar, undiluted. Cellulose gum in water, with overwash of becoming delicately visible as the wash dries. Washes hydrogum in water. 23 may be applied to stone, aluminum, or zinc; they 4. Etch the plate with Y• to 1/J TAPEM. may be applied in the sun , on a heated plate, air 5. After a one-hour rest period, apply two gum films. dried, or dried with a hair dryer. and buff them smoothly with a cheesecloth . The variety of material that may be used in mak­ 6. Wash-out the ink with lithotine. then clean the ing Lo-Shu washes seems endless. Pure tap water image with Lacquer C Solvent. or isopropyl alcohol may be used , alone or with 7. At thi s po int the image may be drawn over with other materials added. initially, hydrogum, gum more Lo-Shu washes or lacquer may be applied arabic, or cellulose gum was added to tap water (I and the image rolled-up again for processing. drop in 15 mi.); generally, the greater the gum If drawing is added the plate must be reprocessed concentration, the whiter the image will be. Of the as described above. The procedure for rolling up three gums, hydrogum gives the finest reticul ation, an element in a lacquer base is as follows: while the results with cellulose may be sli ghtly I . Apply a thin coat of lacquer and buff it th oroughl y more unpredictable . Other substances which have as in normal processing. been used include gelatine, mucilage, ox gall , rab­ 2. When the lacquer is dry. appl y asphaltum and buff bit skin glue , and salt. Any material which will it into the image. di ssolve in water will deposit a crystalline material 3. Wash-off the gum, lacquer and asphaltum residue or some other substance as it evaporates. It has and roll-up the image in a soft black ink. Note: been observed that if the wash dries quickly, more If this no t a re-drawn Lo-Shu plate and there are material may be needed in the solution than if it no washes on top of other washes. and the image dries more slowly. With stone the following ap­ will remain stable during proofing provided that plies: hard stones require less solution in a pool to it is not heavily dry-rolled. If thi s is a redrawn provide a good wash pattern , reticulation lines are plate and there are washes or drawings on top of finer when the stone has been grained with fine the original washes, then after roll-up. apply sev­ grit, and a stone fresh from the graining si nk will eral well buffed gum films. wash out the image require less solution than a dry stone. with lithotine. apply asphaltum. and ro ll -up the image a second time. To prepare a drawing, first enclose with pencil lines all areas in which a wash is to be laid. Washes Redrawing a Lo-Shu plate may be applied with a brush and pooled from two The following process works equall y well on draw­ to eight mm. thick, depending on the surface ten­ ings made with conventional lithographic materials sion of the material in use. When the wash begins and those done with Lo-Shu washes: to dry away from the edges, more solution may be I. Apply two coats of gum. buffing each coat smoothl y added to the middle of the pool , or the brush may into the plate. be used to bring the solution from the middle to­ 2. Wash out the ink with lithotine and clean the image ward the edges. This may be continued until the with Lacquer C solvent. exact reticulation pattern sought is achieved. The 3. Draw on the open plate w ith water or diluted gum more solution added to the wash, the thicker will solution and allow to dry. be the reticulation lines and the more slowly they 4. Process with an asphaltum or a lacquer base. will be formed. Directional changes in pattern can be made by adding solution to different sides of Printing the wash. The thinnest part of the wash will be the It is generally best to use soft ink when processing fastest to dry, leaving lines which go in the direc­ and printing Lo-Shu washes. Primary washes (those tion of drying. A variety of grey tones , rather than that do not have other washes on top of them) are line, are achieved by allowing thin coats of solution extremely stable. During printing they can be re­ to dry quickly, one on top of another, however it peatedly dry-rolled and snapped back. More com­ may be necessary to double the gum concentration. plex patterns of washes over washes must be given special consideration during printing, as the top Processing layer of washes is not as strongly attached to the Lo-SHU WASHES may be processed either with lac­ element as are the original washes. They will sur­ quer or with an asphaltum base, however to put vive editioning if the element is regummed after the wash directly into lacquer will stop out the grey five or ten impressions. If the problem is not solved tones that result when the element is first rolled up through such regumming, then wash out the ele­ in grease. Following in the step-by-step procedure ment and roll it up in fresh ink. for a roll-up with asphaltum:

I . Apply a coat of asphaltum to the image area and buff it thoroughl y into the plate. When it is dry Rebecca Bloxham is a gradute student in printmaking apply a second coat in the same manner. at Brigham Young University. She participated in a professional stone and metal plate workshop at Tamarind 2. Wash off the surface residue and roll-up the image Institute in June 1981 . It was at this workshop that she with a soft black ink. presented her new technique, not yet named Lo-Shu, and 3. Apply talc and buff it into the ink . sought guidance in its research and documentation.

24 A MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF INK AND WATER EMULSIONS

by Todd Frye

A STRANGE PHENOMENO TAKES PLACE when pull­ ing the last few impressions in an edition, an "end of the run phenomenon" which has been experi­ enced by most printers: everything prints pro­ I. Shop mix , 15 % water-saturated. foundly well. ln some degree, this can be attributed End-of-run sample (2.5 x 8 magnification). to the understanding that has developed between the printer and the press assistant, their knowledge of the printing element, and the other mechanics which have been building to their optimum level , but no small part has been contributed by an activity inherent in printing, that i , the emulsification of ink and water by the roller. An emulsion is formed when one fluid is sus­ pended in another. The ba ic principle of litho­ graphic printing i that two fluids (ink and water) of differing surface tensions compete with one an­ other to make contact with the printing element at the respectively proper points. lt is at these points that the explanation of lithographic printing (grease and water do not mix) must be scrutinized. It should not be imagined that the mutual re­ pulsion of ink and water is so absolute that the water completely repels the ink on the non-image areas of the element. What actually occurs is that 2. Shop mix , verging on over-saturation, i.e ., flocculation (2.5 x 8 magnification). the water which adheres to the non-image surface is influenced by being partially split at the point between image and non-image area, as well as at the ink-carrying surface of the ink roller. ln this manner, water is introduced into the ink and returns on the roller to the ink slab, where it i emulsified. The obvious re ult, as water is carried back to the ink slab, is that the ink becomes flocculated . Figures I through 6 illustrate ink and water emul­ sification. The condition of a stable emulsion has been established after fifteen percent water, in ap­ proximate proportion to ink , has been introduced. This is seen in figures I and 4. It is at this proportion of water to ink that some ink-related printing prob­ lems come under control. It is also here that the printer must guard against allowing the proportion of emulsified water to exceed twenty-five percent. The water-accepting capacity of most inks does not exceed thirty percent. The problem of how to reach 3. Shop mix, pigmentation separation (tinting out), detected only in flocculated ink and stabilize the ideal ernul ion of ink and water (10 x 8 magnification).

25 exists at the beginning of printing , and it should be considered by the printer before the fl ow of editioning begins. If a stable emulsion could be achieved within the first two proofs, it could con­ tribute greatl y to lessening printer fa ti gue and to shortened run time. The practi ce of mi sting water li ghtl y over the ink slab or directing humidifie d air in the directi on of the slab may initiate an emul sion faster than waiting fo r water to be emul sifi ed through normal inking and sponging functi ons. Old ink may be removed from the ink slab systemati call y, in proportion to the amount of suspected water sat­ urati on, and new ink may be introduced to the slab to keep the ink-to-water rati o within the proper proportions. That color inks accept water more slowly than do black inks is illustrated by comparison of Graphic Chemical lithographic bl ack # 2244 and Daniel Smith vermillion #50628. In the fo rmer, the pres­ ence of water in the ink was detected almost im­ 4. Vermill ion , 15% water-saturated. mediately and a stable ink-to-water ratio was reached End-of-run sample (2.5 X 8 magnification). very quickl y through normal printing procedures. In the latter, a smaller water droplet and a more random pattern of water particles was noted. T he emulsion of water with Daniel Smith vermillion was not achieved rapidly, although the in k still exhibited the traits of a stable emul sion. This com­ parison indicates that the printer may have to direct greater attention to achievement of the desired fif­ teen percent water-to-ink proporti on when printing in color. The influence whi ch water has on printing may be far more complex than has been imagined . Such factors as the pH of water- hard as compared to soft water- water pollutants, and ioni zati on affect interfacial tensions, surface tensions, and wetabil­ ity. They are by no means unimportant character­ isti cs in their influence upon printing. Among the many ways in which water affects printing , the qualities provided by its emulsificati on with in k, 5. Verm ill ion, vergi ng on over-saturati on. i.e ., fl occulation (2 .5 x 8 magnification). as evidenced in the "end of the run phenomenon," are significant. They can be controll ed by the per­ cepti ve printer. D

Todd Frye was enrolled in Tamarind In stitute 's profes­ sional lithography classes in 1979-80. He is currentl y Start ing KODA LIT HOGRAPHIK . a fi rm which will engage in the production of leather and color hand rollers, hand lithographic chemicals, and , possibly, a new hand press; and is conducting research into modi ficati on of water 6. Vermillion, over-saturated emulsion with suspected large pigment particles. rather than ink . 26 TAMARIND

A Photographic Yearbook

FOREMOST AMONG T AMA R! D'S OBJECTIVES since LEFT: William Haberman (TMP, 1982) i shown mixing ink for a its founding in 1960 has been the tra ining of m aste r technical research project under­ printe rs, w ith the conseque nce tha t m ost Ame rican taken as a part of his study at Ta­ works ho ps a re o r have been staffed by Ta m a rind ma ri nd . Bill attended the University of Wyoming before printe rs. All who comple te the p rogra m have had corning to Albuquerque in 1980. inte ns ive expe rie nce in the works ho p , including He is now enrolled a a student full respo ns ibility for coll a bo ratio n with artists in at the University of ew Mexico. the proofing a nd printing of e ditio ns, pa rtic ipa tio n in works ho p m a nagem e nt, a nd conduc t of researc h Lynne Allen (TMP. 1982) first projects. Beginning in June 1984, the p rogra m w ill stud ied art education at Kutztown State College in Pennsylvania. then be modified so as to foll ow a brief but inte ns ive earned her Master of Arts degree summe r course in professio na l lithogra phy b y a in that fie ld at the University of fifteen- to e ig hteen-mo nth fe llo w ship in the m aste r­ Washington. She taugh t for sev­ eral years in Norway and in The printe r p rogra m . Netherlands before entering Ta­ marind' s printer-training pro­ T he c ura to rial tra ining progra m , w h ich com prises gram. Following completion of o ne academic year , provides inte rns with necessary the requ irements for the TMP. she skills a nd expe rie nce in the care a nd ha ndling of joined Tamarind 's staff as a printer fi ne print , the ir d ocume nta tio n a nd exhib ition , a nd and as coordinator of the printer­ trai ning program . cata logue researc h , pre pa ra tio n , a nd publication . A s these fellowships ar e ha lf- time a ppo intments (20 ho urs a week ), it is possibly conc ure ntly to e nro ll in g radua te study in the history o f art a t the Univers ity o f N ew M exico.

De ta ile d informatio n w ith respect to the printe r a nd c u rato ri a l training p rograms is availa ble upo n re ­ quest.

RIGHT: Melissa Katzman-Braggins (TMP, 1982) is seen comparing an impression of a li thograph by Susan Crile to the bon a tire r impression. Me lissa received her baccalaureate degree fro m the Roch­ ester Institute of Technology. Before becoming mas­ ter printer at Master Ed it ions, Ltd ., Englewood, Colorado, she worked for a year as a printer at South­ west Graphics Workshop in Ari zona.

Meredith Watson (Curator-fe llow, 198 1-82) pack­ Deborah Kirsch (Curator-fellow. 198 1-82) unroll s ages a lithograph. " Murfy " is a graduate of South­ a large lithograph by Steven Sorman. Deborah com­ western at Memphis. where she majored in art history. pleted her undergraduate studies at Hami lton College She later served as ass istant manager of an art ga llery and at Smi th Co llege. She pl ans to pursue a career in Memphi s. Follow ing furt her graduate study, she as an artist-printmaker after completing graduate study plans to work as a curator in the muse um fie ld. at the niversity of ew Mexico. 27 DIRECTORY OF SUPPLIERS

Listings in TTP's Directory of Sup­ pliers are available to all manufac­ turers and distributors of materials and services appropriate to use in professional lithography workshops. Information regarding listings will be sent upon request.

Andrews/Nelson/Whitehead. 31-10 48th Graphic Chemical & Ink Co. 728 N. Yale Rembrandt Graphic Arts. The Cane Ave. LIC, NY 11101. (212) 937-7100. Larg­ Ave., Box 27T, Villa Park, IL 60181. Farm, Rosemont, NJ 08556. (609) est selection of papers for printmaking. She~ts (312) 832-6004. Complete list of supplies 397-0068. Etching and litho presses, hot & rolls, colors, special markings, large sizes, for the lithographer. Rollers, all kinds plates, yellow and gray litho stones, custom watermarks , 100% rag Museum Board and made to order. Levigators, grits, Hanco inks, Faust inks, aluminum plates, in 4 shades of white 2, 4 & 6 ply. Acidfree stones, tools and papers. We manufacture KM rollers, printmaking papers, chemi­ Colored Matboard. our own specially formulated black and cals, solvents, tools. Relief, etching, litho colored inks. and silkscreen supplies. Charles Brand Machinery, Inc. 84 East lOth St., NYC 10003. (212) 473-3661. Handschy Industries, Inc. 528 North Daniel Smith, Inc. 1111 W. Nickerson, Se­ Manufacturers of custom built litho Fulton, Indianapolis, IN 46202. (317) attle, WA 98119. (206) 282-4329. Toll free presses, etching presses, polyurethane 636-5565. Manufacturer Hanco printing 1-800-426-6740. Complete selection of rollers for inking, electric hot plates, inks and lithographic supplies, including professional artist materials for all mediums. levigators and scraper bars. Sold world­ gum arabic, cellulose gum, etc. Send for catalog. wide. Presses of unbreakable construc­ William Korn, Inc. Ill 8th Avenue, NYC The Structural Slate Co. 222 E. Main St., tion and highest precision. 10011. (212) 242-3317. Manufacturers of Pen Argyl, Box 187, PA 18072. (215) Crestwood Paper Co. 315 Hudson St., lithographic crayons, crayon tablets, 863-4141. "Pyramid" brand Pennsyl­ NYC 10013. (212) 989-2700. Handmade crayon pencils, rubbing ink, autographic vania slate stone: backing slate, slate and mouldmade printmaking papers. ink, asphaltum-etchground, transfer ink, plate supports. Somerset printmaking paper: mould­ music plate transfer ink; tusche in liquid, Takach-Garfield Press Co., Inc. 3207 made, IOOOJo rag, neutral pH. Avail. stick and solid form (I lb. can). Morningside Dr. N.E., Albuquerque, white, cream, softwhite, & sand, textured Light Impressions Corp. 131 Gould St., NM 87110. (505) 881-8670. Hand or elec­ & satin finishes, in 250 gr. & 300 gr., Rochester, NY 14610. (716) 271-8960. tric operated lithograph presses. Hand asstd. & custom sizes. Exclusive distributors of Kwik Print light operated etching presses. Inking rollers, Dolphin Papers. 624 E. Walnut St., sensitive color imaging materials. Com­ automatic tympan and punch registration Indianapolis, IN 46204. (317) 634-0506. plete line of archival storage, framing and systems, polyethylene scraper bars and Dolphin Litho Transfer Paper. Acid-free display products. 64-page Archival Sup­ straps. papers for printmaking, drawing and plies catalog free on request. Wepplo Press Co., Inc. 8412 Haeg Dr., pamtmg. Arches; Rives; Fabriano; Printmakers Machine Co. 724 N. Yale Minneapolis, MN 55431. (612) 881-0982. Richard de Bas; Bareham Green; Lenox; Ave., Box 71T, Villa Park, IL 60181. Table model etching, manual or electric others. Free catalog and price list avail­ (312). 832-4888. Sale of printmaking etching and lithographic floor models able on request. presses only. Sole manufacturer of Also electric hydraulic litho press. Acces­ Glenn Roller Co. Dept. H, 2617 River Dickerson, Sturges & Printmakers litho sories include scraper bars, color rollers, Ave., Rosemead, CA 91770. (213) presses. Quality presses, manufactured by levigators, hot plates, sinks, acid bath. 283-2838. Lightweight hand rollers for skilled workmen, sold worldwide. Brochure available. printmaking, durometers from 20 to 75 , all sizes available, chrome handles. Very high quality. A must for the professional.

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