Page:Brinkley - The Art of Japan, vol. 1.djvu/62

34 draw with perfect accuracy an inverted, and often a reduced, reproduction of the original. Hence the credit of the picture does not belong solely to the artist but is shared equally by the engraver. In Japan the engraver has no honour: he is a mere artisan. This interesting point will be understood from the following description of the Japanese chromo-xylographic process (furnished by Mr. S. Tuke, one of the profoundest and most zealous students of the subject):—

“In the first place, the artist will compose his original design somewhat in this fashion. He commences with a small rough sketch, perhaps on an odd scrap of paper. Next he proceeds to make an outline-drawing with a brush dipped in very thin and pale Indian ink on a sheet of paper of the requisite size. Having corrected this and satisfied himself with his performance, he will carefully and accurately draw in the whole outline in black ink. If this outline is not entirely satisfactory, he will make a corrected tracing upon thin paper. In this case, he may partially paint the original picture with the colours and designs he intends to employ for the colour-printing.

“At this stage the wood engraver’s services are called in. Having procured a block of cherry wood of the desired dimensions and sawn with the grain, (not across the grain, as is our habit in the West), the original drawing, or the tracing as the case may be, will be pasted face down upon the block. If the drawing can not be distinctly seen through the back of the paper, its upper layers will be very carefully rubbed off with a wet hand or cloth, until the outline can be clearly seen through the thinnest possible film of paper. Having received the requisite instructions from the artist, the engraver will commence to carve out the spaces between the black portions of the design, leaving the black outline alone in relief. This operation concluded, and the fragments of paper having been removed with a brush, the outline having been made, the first stage will be completed. In the case of an ordinary print in black and white, the engraver’s labours are now ended. But in the case of a colour-print, he still has duties to perform, as will be presently seen.

“The printer’s services are now required, and a certain number of copies will be printed on thin paper from the outline block—one copy at least for each colour which is to appear in the finished picture. The artist’s help will now again be needed, and if he has not already coloured portions of the original drawing, he will colour, entirely or in part, one of these printed copies as a model for the finished picture. Then he will paint, possibly by tracing on another of these outline copies, all portions of the picture that are of the same colour; on another copy, in the same way, the parts of the picture that are of another colour, and so on, until he has thus painted as many single-colour copies as there are colours in the finished picture. Each of these coloured copies is now pasted on a separate block of cherry wood. The engraver then resumes work. He carves away the whole surface of each block, including the outline, leaving only in relief the coloured part of the design. In each case he also carves at the corner and edge of the block a