0.3 Introduction: the birth of american artist printmaking  (Page 7/9)

The new society’s first exhibition was held that fall at the Ortgies Gallery in New York City. The show included etchings by ThomasMoran, Mary Nimmo Moran, Charles Platt, Stephen Parrish, and Kruseman van Elten, among others. A November 25, 1888, exhibit notice in The New York Times included mention of reproductive work after an artist’s own work by Thomas Wood, and another by William Sartain after a painting by PercyMoran. Thomas Moran exhibited his print “Mountain of the Holy Cross,” known to be after his painting of the same title. Clearly, reproductive prints werewithin the mission of the group. Members of the Society of American Etchers were to be known as artists endeavoring to protect their etchings from commercialabuse and misunderstanding through control of edition size (commercial and private), quality, and a guarantee of publishers’ integrity.

The formation of the Society of American Etchers should not be misconstrued as a political response to the resolution passed bythe New York Etching Club banning all but “original” etchings. It is unlikely that there was a great deal of hostility between the groups over theirrespective positions regarding originality. It appears, rather, that the founding of the Society of American Etchers was an effort to protect theintegrity of the New York Etching Club by providing an alternate vehicle for stands that could not be reconciled with favored, and by then traditional, clubpractices. The American Society of Etchers provided shelter for a different consensus about what constituted an original print, and a different way ofassessing the artistic value of prints. These artist printmakers were free to exhibit without drawing the ire of critics down on the New York Etching Club.But they were not without their detractors in the greater art world.

Despite the differences between the New York Etching Club and the Society of American Etchers, members of both groups shared fiercecommitments to craft, quality, and professionalism—standards that helped form the earliest basis for artists identifying themselves as American artistprintmakers. The minutes contain records of several discussions club members held about merging with the Society of American Etchers (though not,unfortunately, about issues central to their potential incompatibility). Nonetheless, their shared values, along with their debates over originality,integrity, and print edition size, continue today to inform the modern American artist printmaker.

When the New York Etching Club was founded, while there were numerous technically skilled reproductive and commercial etchers,there was but a small handful of local artists working “artistically” with the medium. By the late 1880s, there were hundreds of accomplished American artistprintmakers. These men and women began taking sides on matters of aesthetics, commerce, and the merits of various print-making materials, including metalplates, etching needles, grounds, mordants, inks, and printing papers. By then, many of these artists had their own etching presses and were known as skilledprinters. They passionately debated the pros and cons of plate-wiping techniques, false-biting, and roulettes, and they ferociously engaged each otherin conversation over a question that still confronts us today: “What constitutes an original print?” There is a reference in the February 19, 1892 minutes to theorganization of a “Special Retrospective Exhibition of the Best American Etchings made since 1876,” for presentation at the 1893 Chicago World’sColumbian Exposition. Although the retrospective never materialized, the minutes entry demonstrates that 1876 stood as the year in the minds of artists whentheir experience as American artist printmakers officially began.