Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 2 or 3 November 1882) ... than, for instance, about the last Salon.
Now what you write about the Vie Moderne, or rather
about the kind of paper that Buhot promised you, - this is
something which interests me very much. Do I understand rightly
that this paper is such that when one makes a drawing on it (I
suppose with autographic ink) this drawing just as it
is, without the intermediary of a second draughtsman or
engraver or lithographer, can be transferred on to a stone, or
a cliché can be made of it, so that an indefinite number
of copies can be pulled? - the latter then being facsimiles of
the original drawing. If this is so, be so kind then as to give
me all information you can pick up about the way in which one
has to work on this paper, and try to get me some of it, so
that I can give it a trial.
If I could have a trial before you come, we might on that
occasion consult about what we can do with it.
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (22 November 1882) ... things
which were in the drawing.
The drawing was
not done with lithographic crayon only, but
was touched up with autographic ink. Now the stone has only
partly caught that autographic ink, and we do not know what to
ascribe it to, probably my diluting it with water.
At all events, it shows that the ink gave strong black tones
where it caught; I hope to get better results with it later.
Then when the printer has more time, we shall make experiments
by bringing a kind of wash over it during the printing, and we
will try different kinds of paper and different kinds of
printing ink.
I hope these two stones will improve even more by retouching
in accordance with the two studies made directly from the
model, which I still have.
At last a painter has come to see me, namely Van der Weele,
who stopped me on the street, and I have also been to see him.
I hope he will also try this process of lithography. I wish he
would try it with two ploughs which he has - painted...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (26 and 27 November 1882) ... I had scarcely been outdoors this week.
As to the lithography, I hope to get a proof tomorrow of a
little old man. I hope it will turn out well. I made it with a
kind of chalk especially patterned for this process, but I am
afraid that after all the common lithographic crayon will prove
to be the best, and that I shall be sorry I did not use it.
Well, we must see how it turns out.
Tomorrow I hope I shall learn several things about printing
which the printer will show me. I should love to learn the
printer's craft itself. I think it quite possible that this new
method will bring new life into the art of lithography. I think
there might be a way of combining the advantages of the new
with the old way, one cannot tell for certain, but perhaps it
may be the cause of new magazines being published.
Monday
I wrote this far last night, this morning I had to go to the
printing office with my little old man, now I have witnessed
everything, the transfer on to the stone,...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Anthon van Rappard (26 November 1882) ... The latter was much more striking as a drawing; in
the lithograph I have used autographic ink, which did not
transfer very well, and the “quickness” of the
drawing has to a great extent gone out of it. There was also
more animation in the black parts, as the hatching expressed
the direction and form of the folds much more strongly. Well,
the same is true of the “Digger,” but this sheet
has in general acquired a certain vigour and ruggedness which
corresponds with the character of the figure, though I should
have liked a greater diversity of tone. I am now trying to find
a way to combine the new method (transferring the drawing on
paper) with the old (working directly on the stone).
You may remember the drawing “Worn out” [F 864,
JH 051]; I did it all over again the other day - actually three
separate times, with two models - and I am going to toil on it
a lot more. For the present I have one which will be the
subject of the fifth stone;...
Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh (c. 21 December 1882) ... on the drawings
is the main thing.
As to lithography, as I have assisted a few times at the
printing and the preparation of the stone, I think I shall try
to make some lithographs without having recourse to paper, etc.
- simply by drawing on the stone itself. For much as I like
those drawings in Harper's Christmas Number or in Vie Moderne,
still there is always something mechanical in them, something
of a photograph or photogravure, and I prefer an ordinary
lithograph by Daumier or Gavarni or Lemud. Well, a firm hand
for drawing is needed for one as well as for the other, that's
the main thing.
I am afraid that a new process is one of those things which
cannot quite satisfy one, that it is in fact rather too smooth.
I mean that an ordinary etching, an ordinary wood engraving, or
an ordinary lithograph has a charm which cannot be replaced by
anything mechanical.
The same can be said of engraving - the photogravure
reproduction of the “Sewing Class” by Israëls,
...
