A Copper Alliance Member
Copper in the Arts
Issue #28: August '09 - Cont'd
Collecting Colonial Era Copper Prints
Co-owner Donald Cresswell standing in front of the Philadelphia Print ShopPhoto by Rebecca Troutman
Readers may recognize the co-owners of the Philadelphia Print Shop, Donald H. Cresswell and Christopher W. Lane, because they are widely published historians and regular guest appraisers on the popular PBS program, Antiques Roadshow. The exposure has garnered Cresswell and Lane the rock star status among history buffs, and their expertise is often sought out by fans.
Antique prints were produced using a basic medium—be it stone, wood, or metal—and are usually grouped into three categories: relief, intaglio, and planographic. The most common type of print during the American Revolution was intaglio, in which the image is recessed into the copper. To create a print, ink is placed into the recessed areas, wiped away from the surface, and transferred to paper under high pressure. Intaglio prints can be identified by a characteristic platemark pressed into the paper that appears as a faint border.
The popularity of copper lasted several hundreds of years, from the 1420s to late 18th century. Printmakers preferred to produce intaglio prints using copper, and various styles evolved including engravings, etchings, aquatints and mezzotints. Copper was deemed best for the job based on its durability, availability, and properties that allowed for expertly detailed designs by freehand. However, with the advent of technologies in the early 1900s, copper was traded in for steel—a much harder metal which produced greater than double the impressions that copper could before the strain of the press eroded the vitality of the print. The invention of lithography in 1798 and later photomechanical methods has relegated copper plate printing to a small niche market of contemporary artists.
John James Barralet, "View of the Water Works At
Centre Square Philadelphia," 2nd State
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Print Shop
Copper did allow the artist to be more expressive and create warm scenes, but copper plates would wear down from constant pressings. Routinely, craftsmen were directed to engrave the same copper plate anew. Each time this occurred, its prints would be referred to as a second “state,” third “state,” and so on.
Occasionally small details or embellishments were added, such as in the second state of "View of the Water Works At Centre Square Philadelphia.” According to Cresswell, this view of the Centre Square Waterworks, located today on the current site of Philadelphia’s City Hall, was drawn by John James Barralet (ca. 1747-1815), an Irish artist who came to Philadelphia about 1795. The stipple etching, an intaglio process by which different sized small dots are arranged closer together or further apart to depict shadow and light, was done by Cornelius Tiebout. When the pressure of the press wore the copper plate down, the job of producing the second state was passed to engraver H. Quig. You will notice a very small man in the foreground between the two wagons that he added, Cresswell speculates, possibly to enliven the scene. However, the fourth state reveals that H. Quig was not pleased with the figure and had attempted to burnish him away, leaving a “light ghost” where he once was, produced 5 to 15 years later and colored by hand. The second state is extremely rare, ironically because Quig did not print many copies as a result of his presumed dissatisfaction with his out-of-scale figure.
Of the 20,000 maps and old paper prints in the Philadelphia Print Shop gallery, antique-hunters won’t find one reproduction in the bunch. Cresswell and Lane believe that the vibrancy of the print aesthetics paired with “rigorously researched historic context” allow them to speak for themselves, and are very passionate about that philosophy. “Once upon a time,” Cresswell says, reflecting on his academic passion and life’s work, “I wanted to say something to staff about how I felt about what we did here. Every year I can look back, and I told them my greatest accomplishment is that we made a lot of people happy.”
The Philadelphia Print Shop will celebrate its antique map collection throughout the month of September, 2009, featuring hand-carved prints produced using copper from the period between 1600 and the early 1800s. For those who would like more information on the basics of printmaking, Cresswell recommends the book How to Identify Prints by Bamber Gascoigne.
Resources:
Philadelphia Print Shop Co-owner, Christopher Lane, explains the intricacies and details of fine print making, using the intaglio process on copper plates.
Philadelphia Print Shop, 8441 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA, (215) 242-4750Depicting Nature in Metal
Copper accented necklace and earrings
Photograph courtesy of Courtney Designs
“There was a shop up the road where the guy was from England, and he was doing jewelry,” she says. “So, my sister and I would play with materials. Because of things like copper and brass, you can start very inexpensively.”
In fact, she recommends that kids with an interest in jewelry making begin with these metals.
“I say, ‘Take yourself down to the hardware store, buy some brass and copper, and play around with it.’ Starting with brass and copper, you don’t feel as intimidated as you would if you’re dealing with sterling or, God forbid, gold,” she says.
Of course, now that she has more than 30 years of experience under her belt, Courtney works frequently with sterling and 14kt gold and often mixes metals. Most of her copper and brass come from Indian Jewelry Supply, while she gets silver from Academy Group and gold from Hoover & Strong.
The business, Courtney Design, really began when she met and married Lee Peterson, son of famed naturalist Roger Tory Peterson. Lee had written the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. So, the marriage was not just a romantic one – they married their talents as well and began a line of nature-based jewelry that is amazingly detailed. Their studio is located on a 200-year-old farm in southeastern Pennsylvania.
In the beginning, they focused primarily on the wholesale market and attended trade shows regularly in Atlanta, New York, and San Francisco. Today, they concentrate more on retail craft shows and custom work for such organizations as the Boston Museum of Art and The National Geographic Society.
Copper accented rabbit
Photograph by Courtney Designs
This is not the only way that Courtney Design doesn’t quite follow the rules of the game. “Years ago, I was in Mississippi at a rock and mineral show,” Courtney says, “and these old guys in suspenders came up, and they were watching what I was doing. They said, ‘She’s doing all the things they told us never to do, and it seems to be working.’”
Courtney and Lee create their prototypes by hand. If it sells well, or if they have multiple orders, they create a mold and send it to a retired air force colonel in New Mexico who does their castings.
“Most of the things we do just start out with sheet or wire, and we cut it out and pattern it,” Courtney says. “What I’m doing is so primitive that I could be kneeling on the ground in India really. It’s not any really high tech kind of thing like some people are doing. I think it’s just a feeling for getting the expression in metal, and the tools we’re using, a lot of them were not even made for the jewelry trade.”
In fact, she discovered some antique printing stamps at a store in Maine that, when turned on their sides, create “great feather impressions or scales for fish.” Of course, she uses hammers and chisels, but she often cuts the shapes with a pair of scissors. “I’m not sawing it out, which is what they would have taught me had I gone to art school,” she says.
Courtney and Lee both love what they do and have found that it works out for them economically as well. “It’s really a neat thing to decide you’re going to do something and think that once it’s done, unless everything in the world blows up, it’s going to be around 300 years from now. That’s kind of an amazing feeling that some of these pins that we’re doing now are going to be around,” Courtney says. “And I think that’s the wonderful thing about dealing with metal.”
Resources:
Courtney Design, Oxford, PA, (610) 932-6065
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Copper in the Arts: EVENTS
- Palm Beach Jewelry, Art, and Antique Show
Feb 15, '13 - Feb 18, '13 - Native Expressions: Dave McGary’s Bronze Realism
Mar 7, '13 - Jun 30, '13 - Evolving Character Head Demonstration with John Coleman
Mar 9, '13 - Mar 9, '13 - More Upcoming Events...
Copper in the Arts: HISTORY
America's First Copper Paint
The Tarr and Wonson Copper Paint FactoryPhoto by Iain Kerr
Augustus H. Wonson and his son Gardiner found a remedy by creating copper, anti-fouling paint for boat bottoms. Partnering with James G. Tarr, the Tarr and Wonson Paint Factory began manufacturing the first copper, bottom paint in 1863 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It was a mix of tar, dry copper oxide, and naphtha or benzine, blended in a time-consuming three-step process. The original patent proclaims, “We have found by experiment that the hull of a vessel painted with our composition has remained free from shells and weeds for a period of twelve months, while another vessel painted in the common manner and employed in the same trade became so foul in six weeks as to require scraping.”
The paint was so successful, the Tarr and Wonson Paint Factory made copper paint for the maritime industry for over a hundred years, sending this paint to ship owners all over the world. When the factory closed in 1980, it remained vacant for almost 30 years until Ocean Alliance, an oceanographic research organization, bought it to house its headquarters.
“I really believe the invention of Tarr and Wonson's copper paint launched the first industrial revolution in North America, which was commercial fishing,” said Iain Kerr, Vice President and CEO of Ocean Alliance. “You cannot underestimate the effect it had on American society. Not only did it help in fishing, but it helped in commerce, it helped in warfare, and it helped in recreation.”
Kerr, who also is a ship captain and who piloted Ocean Alliance's research vessel Odyssey, knows the value of this paint. “In the old days in warfare, it would take days just for the boats to get close and then they would start shooting. If you saw a boat on the horizon and your bottom was not foul, it didn't matter if they had more sail or not. You could just sail away,” he said. Prior to copper, anti-fouling paint, navies would sheath the bottoms of boats with layers of thin, copper sheeting. “Think how expensive or heavy that was,” Kerr adds.
Copper paint proved essential for the commercial fisherman.
“If you put a coat of paint on the bottom of a hull and not have to scrape it for a year, instead of every six weeks, suddenly you've got a business,” Kerr explained. “And, with a clean bottom, these boats might be sailing anywhere between six and twelve knots. With a dirty bottom, they might be going three knots or two knots.” This allowed fishermen to get to their fishing grounds quicker and get back to shore faster. Even when motors were added, having a dirty bottom could increase a businesses expenses further. “You might be doubling or tripling your fuel consumption.”
Today, Ocean Alliance will pay tribute to the legacy of the Tarr and Wonson Paint Factory as it refits the factory buildings into its new headquarters. Based in Lincoln, Massachusetts, Kerr jokingly said, “We've been lost in the woods of Lincoln for about 39 years! We should be on the waterfront.” They needed a dock for the 93-foot Odyssey and lots of room for all of their research activities. The factory complex located on Rocky Neck in Gloucester was an ideal site, and it was zoned marine industrial—perfect for a maritime research facility.
“As we look to the future here, we really believe at Ocean Alliance that the outside of the building should speak to the past, but the inside should speak to the future. We're expecting it will cost around $10 million to do that. If we're able to raise enough money, we'd really like the inside to be incredibly 'green,' and we'd like it to become a destination. We want people to see and understand the history, what it means, and understand what happened here.” Ocean Alliance will also continue its research on whales and ocean pollution at this iconic site on the Gloucester Harbor.
Copper in the Arts: NEWS
Julia Child’s Copper Pots Reunited at the Smithsonian - August 03, 2009
Curator Paula Johnson installs copper pots on Julia Child’s blue-painted pegboard in the Julia Child's Kitchen exhibition at the National Museum of American History, July 29, 2009
Courtesy of The National Museum of American History
Thirty gleaming French copper pots and pans and the original painted pegboard on which they hung in her house in Cambridge, Mass., will be added to the original exhibition. The blue-painted pegboard shows an outline for each pot and pan, drawn by husband Paul Child, to ensure each object would be returned to its place on the wall after use.
In addition, the wall contains eight blacksteel crepe pans, four cast-iron baking pans, a giant tea ball and a branding iron with the initials “JC,” all of which will be added to the exhibition. Many of these objects were bought by the Childs during their time in France (1948-52) and used for 45 years following their return to the United States.
“Julia Child brought the art and joy of cooking to new audiences and became a culinary heroine,” said Brent D. Glass, director of the museum. “Her kitchen and the countless gadgets within it are a lasting representation of her wonderful character and the legacy she left behind.”
Just prior to her gift of the kitchen to the Smithsonian in 2001, Child lent the wall of copper pots to a California cultural institution where it was exhibited until 2008. Child’s family then offered the now-legendary pots and pans to the Smithsonian to be reunited with the rest of the kitchen, bringing the more than 1,000 artifacts together again for the first time since 2001 in a long-term display.
Child’s kitchen was the testing site of countless recipes and cooking experiments, many of which were presented to the American public through her popular cookbooks and television appearances. The kitchen served as the set for three of Child’s cooking television series. Beginning in 2001, museum staff carefully disassembled and cataloged the contents in Child’s home and reassembled the kitchen in the museum gallery. The kitchen is supplemented with videos and photographs, through which visitors can explore Child’s early life and career.
The exhibition is located on the first floor of the museum and includes the original cabinets, counters, cookbooks, Garland commercial range and hundreds of other utensils and gadgets. When it opened in 2002, “Bon Appétit!” was meant to be a temporary display; however, warm reception from visitors has made it a long-term exhibition in the museum.
Resources:
National Museum of American History, National Mall, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., (202) 633-1000
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