RE: GUM: "the whole thing all at once"

The place to see the most amazing collection of single-coat gum prints is
indeed in Paris but it is at the Societe De Francais Photographie which is
near the OLD Biblioteque Nationale. Robert Demachy was, at one time, a
member and left them a number of his prints which are so wonderful I do not
have sufficient word to discribe them except to say that it is worth a trip
to Paris just to see them. You must ask to see them as they are not on
display. It helps if you can speak a little French.

Bob Schramm

Check out my web page at:

  http://www.SchrammStudio.com

>From: Judy Seigel <jseigel@panix.com>
>Reply-To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
>Subject: GUM: "the whole thing all at once"
>Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:55:13 -0500 (EST)
>
>
>On Wed, 14 Dec 2005, Yves Gauvreau wrote:
>
>>Every time I see a little bit on what can be done with gum, I'm just
>>amazed,
>>it's like entering a very large and very dark cavern where your flashlight
>>can only illuminate but a tiny portion of it such that I can't figure out
>>where I'm going to go. I'd like to have a very powerful flash that could
>>show me the hole thing all at ounce for long enough that I can decide
>>where
>>I want to go.
>
>The problem you're having, Yves, in my opinion, is that you're thinking
>like a photographer... that is, a photographer of a simple one-dimensional
>process like silver gelatin b&w (a kit -- buy the box, follow the data
>sheet), or most other single-coat processes (VDB, platinum, et al.), That
>is, there's a particular process, well-mapped, and tho with variations by
>paper, developer, additives, etc., tricky or tetchy as it may be, the
>mechanics & result are more or less the same.
>
>Gum printing is in many ways like *painting* -- and you wouldn't presume to
>demand an explanation of exactly what happens when you paint, because
>painters often have their own methods, materials, sequences, additives,
>techniques, effects, colors, substrates, brushes, shovels, knives,
>solvents, ideas and goals, as well of course as ideas of a good time.
>
>True, there is the constant in so-called "gum printing" that the vehicle
>(gum) is hardened by the dichromate in the presence of UV -- tho even some
>variations on that -- but that's only the basics, like saying humans talk
>with their vocal chords -- that doesn't tell HOW they talk or why, or sing
>or hum or clear their throat or vocalize sneezes or sex, for instance.
>
>Some of your questions, leading to long explanations (IMO attempts to eff
>the ineffiable) would be better answered by JUST ONE LITTLE TEST ! (Tho
>WITH both paint and gum, or you know nothing.)
>
>But, BTW, if you want to see gorgeous one-coat gums, go to Paris & look at
>Robert Demachy in the Biblioteque Nationale (if that's the name?), among
>many many others. There are many reasons to do one-coat gum, among them
>SIMPLICITY, but... there are other reasons & limitations, as well as ideas,
>that invite, even demand, multi-coat. The attempt to define your
>parameters for you would be like telling you what kind of painting you
>should make, and how.
>
>(Tho that can probably be done if you state what painter you want to
>imitate... )
>
>>I don't know if I was able to give you an idea of how I feel about this
>>gum
>>stuff but it's both euphoria and misery at the same time.
>
>Aber naturlich -- and the title of that book is "The Agony and The
>Ecstasy."
>
>But when you find the book that tells you "the whole thing all at once"
>about art, with or without a flashlight, will you send us the ISBN number?
>
>Judy
Received on Thu Dec 15 21:42:30 2005