From: Rod Fleming (rodfleming@sol.co.uk)
Date: 05/27/00-04:56:18 AM Z
HI Garimo, this is long so sorry; if you don't like long posts, delete.
The "conventional" approach is to sign and date the print at the bottom
right hand corner, the title of the print centrally and the edition number
(if appropriate) to the left.
Adams signed the mountboard to which he had drymounted the board- he
regarded this mounting as a permanent part of the finished artwork so there
was no chance of the signature becoming separated from the image itself. He
then overmatted in such a way as a border, showing the information, was
visible all round the print.
(Please note you should never sign and date the mat which overlays the
mount.)
Now there is an alternative view which holds that "photography is a branch
of printmaking". Printmaking has very strict rules about editioning, signing
and dating of work, which essentially come from practise in France, a
country famous for its love of codifying things.
As a result some museums and galleries now stipulate that the signing and
dating is done in accordance with these rules, which are, the edition number
bottom left, the title centre and the signature and date bottom right. These
must all be written in pencil on the paper that the actual print is made on,
outside the image area (NOT on the mount). There are many more rules
regarding the keeping of records etc and I refer you to pp117-120 of The Gum
Bichromate Book for a very concise and accurate summary.
However, this practise is flawed, because Photography is not a "branch of
Printmaking", even though making prints is a very important part of
photography. We do not suggest that the art of making marks by hand,
Drawing, is a "branch of Printmaking", after all!
Now, the principle of the limited edition comes from the fact that in fine
art intaglio printmaking processes the plate itself is degraded by the
action of inking and polishing and in particular by the enormous pressure of
the press. In the case of drypoint, one may only get 8-10 good prints before
this begins to show, 20 or so with etching on zinc more on copper, more
again from engraving, but the effect is still there. So the earlier in the
series, the better the print.
The Artists Proof is the "state" which the artist has approved, hence the
name, and is not numbered but is marked APand is kept by the artist with the
records of the edition. The edition is a series of exact reproductions of
the AP and normally an artist will terminate the edtion when he or she feels
the series prints are no longer up to the standard of the AP. (The AP is
NOT "prints which are not good enough to sell but too good to throw away",
as we have recently seen written..........) At the end of the edition, the
plate is "struck", scored through with a drypoint. (So there was no chance
of the printmaker hanging on to the plate and selling a few of a famous
artist's work "on the side"......)
Now to all intents and purposes a properly made photographic negative is
capable of pretty well unlimited reproduction as fine art prints- there may
be a point at which the light begins to degrade the neg, but I have never
come across anyone who has reached it! So it is very hard to see "editions"
of fine art photographic prints as anything other than a cynical attempt to
push prices up.
Personally I find the notion of "limited editions" of photographic prints
running into several hundred laughable, especially as I know that many who
do so simply make an "edition" greater than they can ever hope to sell. Then
they make the prints to order........Baloney. It does not fool me and I
sincerely hope it fools no-one else. (Both Weston and Adams were set against
this sort of nonsense BTW and both always sold their prints for affordable
amounts.)
We may also note that some alt-photo techniques amount to each print being
an individual artwork in its own right- consider bromoil or multiple
exposure gum for example- and the edition system is just inappropriate for
these.
In my opinion it is time that we all accepted that Photography, the art of
making marks by the use of light, is emphatically not a "branch of
Printmaking", and is an art in its own right. As such it needs a broadly
accepted system which answers its own needs, while at the same time
protecting the rights of the buyers of fine art prints, and of course of the
artists. It definitely does not need a bogus "limited edition" system which
may amount to notional "editions" of three or four hundred of which only
fifty may actually ever be made! This just debases Photography as a fine
art.
(Those "limited editions" of several hundred sometimes made by painters to
boost their income are just offset litho prints- ie posters, and are
deserving of contempt. IMHO.)
The system I have adopted, and I don't expect anyone else to, I just note it
here for interest, is to write the title in the middle below the image but
on the paper, together with the date of the negative (eg Sarah Nude, 1979,
or Ethie Woods, 1989) and I sign and date the print at bottom right (eg Rod
Fleming 2000), all in pencil. I do not pretend to make "editions" even
though I am sometimes urged to, for the reasons I have given.
I drymount silver gelatin prints on pure rag board, (because I like it the
effect) and overmat with matching board. I mount other types of print in a
folding archival mat mount.
I would welcome further discussion about this very relevant issue, but if
others feel that it's not alt-process enough, we can go off-list
Cheers
Rod
.----- Original Message -----
From: "garimo" <omirag@cruzio.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca>;
<alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca>
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2000 07:23
Subject: a question...
> hello,
> I'm preparing for another studio tour... and reprinting some older
> negatives that I no longer have prints of... and I'm wondering if there
> is a standard practice of dating out there in the real world. What
> makes the date of a print? The year when the negative was made? or the
> year when the print was was printed? or, is it just as standard to not
> think about it and put no date on the prints. What do you do?
> garimo
>
> p.s.
> The yearly Santa Cruz County- Open Studio Tour, presented by Cultural
> Council of S.C. takes place the first three weekends of October this
> year. With 250 selected artist studios open for visitors, it's the big
> yearly event for (the lucky 250) artists in this area. Hundreds of
> people from around the country pass through the studios each weekend.
> I just sent scans off for printing of postcard announcements. If you
> send me a address
> *OFF LIST* I'll send you one. the image is a cyanotype of the redwoods
> just outside my front window.
>
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