Brassai, Open Gutter from "Paris by Night" 1933

Brassai’s Paris de Nuit is highlighted in Andrew Roth’s 101 Best Photography Books, “The photogravures are so rich that the sooty blacks still look like they’ll rub off the page… Brassai became a master of drawing luminosity from the darkness.”

Was Roth correct in referring to the images in this book as photogravures?  Just what does the term ‘photogravure’ really mean? Truth of the matter is that while the images in Paris de Nuit are by strict definition photogravures, they are ’sheet-fed’ photogravures which cannot really be compared in quality or craftsmanship to ‘hand-pulled’ photogravures.

Sheet fed photogravures were printed by relatively high volume presses and are typically found on relatively low-quality paper. Production efficiency and automation trumping aesthetics, the ink was thinned with solvents in order to be able to be applied mechanically.  The ink was also applied thinly to aid in quick drying.  Further compromising quality, a grid like screen was used to generate the gradation of tone rather the more organic and time-consuming aquatint dust used in the hand-pulled photogravure process.  So while sheet fed photogravures did reproduce images in ink with an intaglio plate, that’s where the comparison ends.

The photogravures highlighted on this site are all handmade.  They are old school. The tone defining grain is organic rather than a screen. The ink is thick and rubbed deep into the plate by hand.  The plate is run through the press slowly, one sheet at a time, to insure the complete transfer of the pockets of ink deep into the oftentimes hand handmade tissue or paper.

It is no wonder photogravure is so misunderstood (translate: undervalued.) If the same word is used throughout the photography collecting community to describe both something that is machine made AND something that is hand-made, who wouldn’t be confused?

Photogravure is perhaps the most beautiful of the photographic processes.  It is also one of the most challenging.  This summer Paul Taylor of Renaissance Press is sharing his expertise and offering two hands-on photogravure workshops.

Paul’s work with early photographic processes spans over thirty years. He is the founder of The Rhode Island School of Design Press and has been teaching photogravure at RISD since 1993. Renaissance Press has published or produced work by artists including Duane Michals, Robert Mapplethorpe, Joel Peter Witkin, Linda Connor, Robert Adams, Aaron Siskind, Roy DeCarava, Tom Baril, and many others.  These prints are collected by museums internationally.

The workshops will take place at Renaissance Press’ atelier in Ashuelot, New Hampshire.  Participants should expect intensive days in a relaxed environment.  Renaissance Press is located on the bank of the Ashuelot and is a 25 minute drive to Keene New Hampshire or Brattleboro Vermont..

Each workshop is limited to 4 participants.

more details after the jump…

Two photogravure workshops will be offered this summer.  These intensive workshops will run for four days each.

Topics to be covered include:

-Original negatives for photogravure
-The photogravure positive – densitometry-
-LVT negatives and positives for photogravure
-Direct photogravure (if requested)
-Aquatint and screen methods of photogravure plate making
-Steel Plating 
-Photogravure printing:  straight proofs, tissue prints, and chine colle printing.
-Print Varnishing

All materials are included.

Workshop participants will be sent a bibliography and a powerpoint presentation detailing the process prior the workshop.

Participants should come prepared to shoot and process film at Renaissance Press.  If participants want to use pre-existing negatives please advise me prior to the workshop.

The workshops will take place at Renaissance Press in Ashuelot, New Hampshire.  Participants should expect intensive days in a relaxed environment.  Renaissance Press is located on the bank of the Ashuelot and is a 25 minute drive to Keene New Hampshire or Brattleboro Vermont..

The workshop is limited to 4 participants per workshop.  The workshop fee is $1000.00. 
A deposit will be required to reserve a workshop space.

Contact Information:
Paul Taylor
renaissancepress@comcast.net
P.O. Box 12  /   2 Ashuelot Main Street
Ashuelot, New Hampshire  03441
603-239-9990 

I see the term ‘color photogravure’ here and there but never really know what it means.  Is it a photogravure printed with a vibrant conté color ink? Or is it a plate inked simultaneously with multiple colors, like Aperture’s version of Steichen’s Moonrise, Mamaroneck? Or maybe it means plates run through the press multiple times each time using a separate color ink to achieve some type of Warhol screen-print effect?

Well Crown Point Press has teamed up with Susan Middleton (celebrated photographer of endangered species) to set the record straight.  Together they have produced a series of true full-color photogravures.

The technique incorporated produces four-color positive separations from a color negative and etches each onto four individual copper plates. The plates are then inked with the appropriate color and printed in perfect registration resulting in a full-range color photogravure.

And while I have not seen one in person, I can’t help to believe that they would be anything less than beautiful.  I hope to see one soon. If you are anywhere near the Crown Point Gallery in San Francisco, then it would be worth a visit to see for yourself.

The Crown Point Press gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A brochure is available.

Video of Susan Middleton talking about the project

Photogravure is an intaglio printing process where a continuous tone image (photograph) is etched into a copper plate by means of a gelatin resist and an aquatint or screen substitute. The gelatin resist controls the etching in a manner that creates a true continuous tone rendering of the image being etched. It is a continuous tone ink printing process. There is no conversion of the “grayscale” into “half-tone” dots.  “Photo-etching” as the word is commonly used is an intaglio process where line or tone is created through what is essentially a black or white “half-tone” process. The etching process either etches the plate or not, there is very little (no) variability in the tone due to the uniformity of the depth of etch.  Gray tones are either created by converting them to “half-tone” or by etching the plate multiple times for varying amounts of time to create different depths in the plate.
The gelatin resist used in photogravure is essentially a “Carbon Print” that has been transferred onto a copper plate instead of a piece of paper. It is the act of the transfer that allows the gelatin to control the etching in a continuous manner. Since the exposed “face” of the gelatin is in contact with the copper plate the hot water development allows the gelatin to adhere to the copper in thickness that is in proportion to the amount of exposure received.  If a gelatin (or other) was simply coated onto the copper and then exposed (as in photo-etching) and developed (no transfer) it would be virtually impossible to render a long continuous scale of tones.

Thanks Jon! 

Pieter S. Myers
www.psmyers.com

"I have been working in photogravure since the early 1970’s when I viewed the first unveiling of the Edward Curtis’ Prints in Boston, Mass. I had the privilege of reprinting the Edward Curtis plates in Santa Fe, NM in 2005. Holding the original early 20th Century copper plates was daunting. The plates had an ageless connection to not only a race of people and an American visionary but to a process that was considered the finest form of printing a photographic image. The early masters all had their images immortalized in this process. The experience led me to set up my own atelier printing limited edition portfolios.

In 2006 I was introduced to Photopolymer Gravure, the 21st Century evolvement of Photogravure. The process utilized contemporary chemistry and physics without the deleterious affects of acids and caustic chemistry; thus environmentally safe. Imagery and positive preparation are done digitally, ground asphaltum is replaced with stochastic screens and acid bath bite becomes a water wash out. Printing with an etching press and intaglio inks is the same as copper. The final print maintains the lushness and depth of tone of copper gravure while creating crisper detail and cleaner imagery. The evolution of photogravure in the contemporary polymer process facilitates the process for the artist wishing to create timeless imagery."

Jon Goodman believes that the digitalization of photography could be the demise of photogravure if an adequate and affordable digital alternative to preparing film positives from digital files is not incorporated.

With regard to the aquatint, traditionally a screen is created by ‘dusting’ the plate with rosin.  New ‘prefab’ screens incorporating stochastic technology however are available today further streamlining the process.  At Lothar Osterberg’s studio in Brooklyn recently, I was able to compare a traditional dust-grain print with a stochastic screen print.  Under a loupe, the traditional method is superior.  Without magnification, however, the differences were much more subtle.

It’s hopeful to believe that these advancements will ensure a healthy future for the photogravure process rather than chip away at the organic qualities that bring it to life.

Please feel free to comment on this topic…..

note: The image in ‘blue’ tone is simply the photograph of the plate ‘inverted’ in photoshop to illustrate a positive impression of the plate.

Dave Morrish: I suspect that this is not a gravure plate because if it was, the highlights would be reflective and bright, not the shadows. If it looks like a negative, I wonder if it is a relief halftone plate? A loupe would tell you if the shiny shadow areas are meant to be inked in relief as black. I suspect a halftone pattern would be visible too. 

Steven Dixon: It is difficult to tell for sure from the image provided but I suspect that the plate is a photoengraving plate, intended to be printed in relief, since the image is in negative.  Are there any clues that it was mounted type high on a printing block? Nail holes around the edge of the plate or evidence that it was glued down to block or something like that would mean that the plate was made for printing in relief rather that intaglio.

Lothar Osterberg: It’s hard to tell from the photos what the plate is, but it could be a photogravure.
More general, the only way to see if a copper plate is a "real" photogravure plate or a photo etching is to look at the plate with a good magnifying glass and raking light across the plate for some telltale clues:
-If the plate has an uneven grain pattern (resulting from a dustgrain aquatint), it is likely a photogravure.
-If the depth of the etched areas varies from highlight to shadow areas it is definitely a photogravure. (The darkest areas would be the deepest)
-If the plate has evenly spaced dots or lines, it can be either a photo etching (a halftone process) or photogravure.
    A.Only if the depth of the etched areas varies from highlight to shadow areas, and the size of the dots remains the same throughout the plate, it is definitely a photogravure.
    B.The even dot pattern was exposed rather than achieved by a random dustgrain aquatint. It was probably printed mechanically (rather than by hand).
-If the depth is the same throughout the plate, but the size of the dots varies, it is a photo etching plate with a halftone.

Peter Miller: I don’t know why anyone would make a negative photogravure plate, as the print made from such a plate would also be a negative (laterally reversed). The darker parts of the plate would print darker, the lighter parts as highlights.  It’s hard to tell from the emailed images whether there is a dust-grain structure on the plate or not. Examining the plate with a 15X loupe would tell you that. Perhaps someone who knows more about what people were doing in Germany could help identify the plate. 

A 5 day intensive workshop covering the dust grain method of photogravure (Talbot Klic).

Recommended reading- Copper Plate Photogravure by Morrish and Mcallum
The Keepers of Light by Crawford
Also: Photographic Printmaking Techniques by Sacilotto
A Treatise on Photogravure by Denison
4 Nonsilver Processes by Bunnell

Participants should bring a minimum of 5 negatives that they would like to work with. We have facilities to work with film from 35mm to 8 x 10 and larger by contact.

The studio is over 1700 sq’ with a large darkroom,a separate platemaking room and an open pressroom with an inkmaking facility, print drying and finishing area. We have 2) 24” etching presses, one manual and one motorized, and two printing stations wit ability to set up a third. In addition there is a plate shear and beveling machine. In short we have all of the equipment and facilities to work in photogravure with a minimum of material distractions.
    The workshop will provide film and chemistry for making positives, carbon tissue, copper and mold made paper for printing. Other requirements please contact us.
We will cover making positives, use of the densitometer. Preparing plates, etching plates, proofing, plate finishing and printing. If time allows we will explore inkmaking.
Workshop will be for 5 days and cover photogravure in depth.
Cost is $1500.
A $500 deposit is required to hold a space.
Contact Jon Goodman at 413 586 9650 or jgood@crocker.com