A New Direction in Intaglio

continued

It has been pointed out elsewhere in these pages that etching in the recent past (at present, too) has degenerated into a minor craft: transfer-drawing from paper to plate, and then back again in quantities to paper. The acid is relied upon to do most of the work and the engraving tool sometimes is used to add a few finishing touches.

Picasso, in recent times, was among the first to break with this practise, his etchings are not transferred drawings but are conceived and worked directly on the plate. Stanley William Hayter has been largely responsible for reviving the use of burin engraving directly on the metal; he has re-discovered some of the methods practiced by previous artisans—such as cutting completely through the plate to create white areas in the print, and of creating an infinite variety of textured areas through impressing all kinds of materials on soft-ground. In addition to these technical innovations, he has introduced a cubist concept of drawing and painting to the print medium.

It has remained for Lasansky to fulfill two functions of significance, he has again made intaglio a completely independent and truly monumental art form on a level comparable to painting and sculpture. And he has not been contented (as Stinson points out) to be just a self-sufficient virtuoso—but rather "an artist who by his attitude toward his work alone exerts a strong influence on a young generation of American print-makers." He has the remarkable faculty of stimulating each student to draw upon his experiences and give a truly individual expression to his world of experience. Lasansky is fired with the desire to create a renaissance in printmaking—especially intaglio. To this end, he feels that more and more creative artist-craftsman-teachers must be trained and then distributed all over the country. It is inevitable that, among all his students, some should become "little Lasanskys." But, by and large, the one quality that characterizes the work of most of his students is an individuality of expression, a seriousness of purpose, a sense of social responsibility as an artist, and a disciplined feeling for fine craftmanship.

Lasansky's creed is simply and clearly revealed in the statements—really epigramatic restatements—of basic principles, that appear in the pages of this monograph. They need no elaboration. He believes in the union of freedom and discipline, of creative invention and craftsmanship, he talks of "a deep love for the metal plate." And he has succeeded in transmitting these values to his students. They work hard and their productions are individual, expressive, un-mannered, varied, and above all mature. This has been amply illustrated, in each of the traveling exhibitions, by the work of Levine and Steg.

This project on the work of Mauricio Lasansky and his students has explored one of the directions that printmaking is taking today. It is an important direction: this cutting back through the tangents and dead-ends that printmaking arrived at in the 19th century and that have continued even to the present day. But this study is only a beginning. It does indicate without doubt, however, that similar studies of other individuals and groups should be made.

There needs to be an evaluation of all the directions in printmaking that are being pursued in intaglio, in planography, in serigraphy, in relief.

Reprinted from "A New Direction in Intaglio," a catalog published on the occasion of an exhibition in duplicate at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) and the Colorado Srings Fine Arts Center (Colorado Springs), January 30 - March 13, 1949).

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