THE ARTS CLUB.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1264, 20 October 1911, Page 6

THE ARTS CLUB.

LECTURE ON ETCHING, i Last evcniug an interesting lecture on etching was given at tho Arts Club by Mr. Noel Marram). In tlio course of his remarks, Mr. Barrautl spoke of tho misconception that appeared to exist concerning etching, people often speaking of pen-and-ink drawings as such. An etching was a design fixed on metal by the action of acid. The term was also used to indicate a -print or proof taken from tho metal plate. Etching came under tho general title of engraving, but, while tho latter was tho more mechanical means of reproducing copies of the works of other artists, etching provided tho artist himself with a ready means of expression and interpretation for his own thoughts and feelings in tho frankest and most natural manner. Tho needle becamo the crayon, and tho acid added tho "colour." Mr. Larraud then proceeded to give an outline of tho technical side of etching, of tho processes which were involved, showing that it was quite within the reach of anyone who wished to take it up. Tho origin of etching was not known, but it has been stated that tho backs of the old Etruscan mirrors have been so engraved that with proper treatment they could bo used for producing printed etchings. There could bo but little doubt that etching owed its origin, in tho form known to-day, to tho impressions that goldsmiths aud other workers iu metals in tho early part of tho 13th century tool; from the designs they made on their finished works. There were many etchers and engravers between that dato and the time when Albert Durer gave such an impetus to tho art. It was fo Durer that tho honour belonged of having brought tho art to such a height that it has been ablo to claim a position 6ide by sido with painting.