From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 12/12/01-07:06:45 PM Z
On Wed, 12 Dec 2001, pete wrote:>
> I must agree with Katherine on this point. The statment made by Judy on this
> occasion is nit picking, I see this as negative comment pointing in a
> totally the wrong direction. This is my opinion not a personal attack, it is
> just that we cant agree all the time, otherwise there would never be
> meaningful discussion.
Pete, if that were the only problem I found in that book, it would never
have occurred to me even to mention it, and I only did mention it in
context of a citation from same on the list. It's true, I did have to read
that section 3 times... finally figuring out what which alum was, tho that
could be personal brain death more than nitpicking.
BUT, what a jolly good fellow & artist David is (and I thought his prints
in a recent Photovision, tho NOT gums, were terrific), is quite beside the
point. The point is how much misinformation that book has perpetuated --
and it is MUCH. Just the business about the Anderson gum-pigment ratio
test, which he couldn't POSSIBLY have tested against a control, has
metasticized throughout the gum literature (tho he probably got it first
from KOL, & before that Dudley & Henney -- he didn't make it up).
Then there was the "plasticizing" gum for using dry pigments, taken from
Mayer, which AT BEST is counter productive.... and on and on. I won't pick
over them here AGAIN, tho I truly felt when I finished that book I had a
net deficit of information -- stuff I'd tested & taught for 10 years had
become murky.
That said, I thought his first book was a delight, charming and wonderful.
This second book, subtitled "Non-silver methods for photographic
printmaking" was, I thought a matter of overreaching. Going BEYOND his
own expertise -- perhaps a textbook example of "the Peter principle.'"
best,
Judy
> A more positive approach would be to praise David for the contribution he
> has made to the development of the realm of photo/alt whilst mentioning any
> minor discrepancies. His first book 'The Gum Bichromate book 'published in
> 1979 had a huge impact, popularising Gum printing during the latter part of
> the twentieth century. The second was possibly not quite so good, but he
> probably had problems with the publisher a common hazard when writing a
> book.
>
>
> David is not only both a very good author, a talented teacher, but also a
> brilliant creative gum-printer. I had the privilege to work beside him, and
> John Pollard FRPS Member of the London Salon, when we were invited to
> conduct a symposium at RMIT Melbourne in May of 1994. The symposium
> consisted of hands on master-classes a three-hour public forum and a group
> exhibition of our work. In everybody's opinion David was the star of the
> exhibition his fascinating prints of Mexico were breathtaking.
>
>
>
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