Photogravure: An
Intaglio Photomechanical Printing Process.
Photogravure
prints were used in book illustration from 1880 into the 20th c. Karl
Klic in Vienna patented the photogravure process in 1879. Intaglio
is defined as “an engraving or incised figure in stone or other hard material
depressed below the surface so that an impression from the design yields and image
in relief.” Artists invented intaglio printmaking in the Italian Renaissance
and all of the major photographic processes that followed, including the work
of Niepce, Daguerre, Talbot and Archer were based on “the art of engraving”.
Since photogravure
is ink on paper process, it was possible to incorporate color or toning. A
metal plate is sensitized with bichromated gelatin and then exposed and washed.
Then the plate is etched in acid and cleaned before being inked and printed in
the engraving press. Klic is credited
with improving and refining the process using polished copper plates, fine
grain resins and carbon tissue with photographic imagery.
Later in the 19th
century the printing plate of the intaglio press was replaced by a copper
cylinder and that allowed for more rapid production of prints. Edward Curtis
made use of photogravure technology to publish his encyclopedia, The North
American Indian. He produced over 2,200 photogravures for publication although
he worked in a variety of techniques mainly silver gelatin and platinum and
palladium prints.
Pictorialist
photographers, most notably Alfred Steiglitz, Alvin Langdon Coburn and Paul
Strand valued the photogravure process for its “supple and rich” qualities to
express their view that photography should be equated with art. Steiglitz
published Camera Notes and Camera Work using photogravure and many artists
considered photogravure prints to be originals because they were made from
positives from the original negatives and their production was directly
supervised.
In 1970 when Time-Life published the “Life
Library of Photography: The Print” the editors feature Stieglitz’s Camera Work
in the introduction. And it was stated that in 1970, the photogravure was still
the “finest of all processes for reproducing black and white (and other
single-color photographs). They explain that the photogravure “actually forms
an image on paper in much the same way that darkroom chemicals do. Just as the
darkroom process deposits chemicals in varying thicknesses to build up the
light and dark tones of a photographic print, the photogravure process deposits
ink in various thicknesses to build up light and dark portions of the
reproduction. A good photogravure and the photograph from which it was made are
all but indistinguishable to the naked eye.” Observed under magnification
though photogravures have “a fine, irregular grain pattern that real
photographs lack.”
References
Adam, Hans Christian. Edward S. Curtis. San
Francisco. Barnes and Noble Inc. 2006. Print
Katzman, Mark. “The Art of The Photogravure. A Comprehensive
Resource Dedicated to The Photogravure. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
Reilly, James M. Care and Identification of 19th-Century
Photographic Prints. Rochester. Eastman Kodak Co. 1986. Print.
Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography.
New York. Abbeville Press. 1997. Print
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