And you'll find that you're ... in the rotogravure ...

August 10, 2007 9:54 PM

"More than just a printmaking technique, photogravure etching is also a way of exploring the world that brings to light an incomparable variety of tone and texture: shimmering luminous highlights, deep multi-hued blacks, shadows within shadows, and the most subtle gradations of tone." The photogravure etchings of printmaker Peter Miller peacefully await your attention. Peter started out depicting scenes of 'quaint Japan' near his home in Kamakura Japan, but these days - exactly ten years after opening his website - he is working at a much wider scale, creating images from around the world. It's a bit pointless to try and pick more than a couple of examples to show you, so just start with his Viewing page, and browse around at random.

It's stunning work, and when you read his description of the process, hard to believe that anybody could still be doing this today. (Note: it's a bilingual website, and if you don't have asian fonts installed, you'll see some gobbledygook here and there on the pages, but the English explanations, and the images, will be understandable.)
posted by woodblock100 (15 comments total)

I can believe it, with results such as this. (But still, it must be a labor of love.)

Thanks for sharing, woodblock100.
posted by rob511 at 10:26 PM on August 10, 2007

That guy is awesome and woodblock100 is awesome. Traditional prints have so much going for them; when you have to spend hours and hours on one step of an elaborate process, it's only worth it when you create something elegant and beautiful. Thank you.

Meanwhile, I'll be sending another goddamn bank's 2-color business card to the CTP RIP.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 10:50 PM on August 10, 2007

Skitter.
posted by Mblue at 11:23 PM on August 10, 2007

These are absolutely gorgeous. Sure would like to see actual prints, though: they look really good translated to my computer screen, but this is, of course, art that really needs to be seen in the physical realm.

And I don't think it'd be off-topic or inappropriate here to mention, to those MeFiers who don't already know, that woodblock100 is a very talented print artist in his own right. You should scoot over to his userpage and check out his links!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:25 PM on August 10, 2007

Beautiful work, thank you.
posted by amyms at 11:25 PM on August 10, 2007

amazing.

more importantly, how did you get a line break to work?
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 12:30 AM on August 11, 2007

how did you get a line break to work?

Is it a secret? Not permitted? I just put two HTML 'break' commands in sequence at the place where I wanted the end of the first paragraph ...

... off-topic or inappropriate ...

Thanks flapjax ... but I'm now sitting here trembling, awaiting a thunderbolt from Mt. Moderation! :-)
posted by woodblock100 at 12:36 AM on August 11, 2007

This is absolutely stunning work. I can only marvel at what an eye and what a mind it is that can wrap around every minuscule detail that contributes to the scene and translate it so deftly.

And I am quite in agreement with flapjax, woodblock100: your work is beautiful, with a sublime economy of form. Keep it up!
posted by invitapriore at 12:53 AM on August 11, 2007

Part of last evening was spent at a reception for an arts event. There was a young man there playing a hammered dulcimer his grandfather made. I mentioned to him how it seemed that his rhythmic style felt very old while some of the chords and key progressions seemed modern. He smiled and said that I was right; he grew up in the 80s and likes to use the musical language of the music of that time. It wasn't gauche at all -- it was a wonderful fusion of old and new.

So, woodblock100, I salute your new series of Solitudes in the same vein; a wonderful and similar fusion of old techniques and modern styles. Or so it seems to me.

Whoo, kind of a derail here. But the sour stomach that got me out of bed 90 minutes ago has passed completely due to these wonderful links and the exploration thereof. Thank you, truly.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:28 AM on August 11, 2007

Absolutely gorgeous work.

It saddens me, though, that so many people today will probably only get to view work like this online. If you have never seen this technique in-the-flesh, you are truly missing out. But, I guess the same can be said for most art.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:59 AM on August 11, 2007

I'm more than happy to second flapjax at midnite in promoting David and his work. I didn't know that he was a member here when I blogged his site. Fantastic work.
posted by tellurian at 6:29 AM on August 11, 2007

These are the precious "plates" that the secret service is always trying to catch the counterfeiters with.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:49 AM on August 11, 2007

I've seen a number of photogravure prints at the Art Institute in Chicago. They really do have a certain quality lacking in other techniques.

I might be misremembering, but I recall seeing the excellent photogravure.com linked here before. Regardless, it provides an incredible overview of the process and some great historical images.
posted by aladfar at 1:55 PM on August 11, 2007

Whoo, kind of a derail here. But the sour stomach that got me out of bed 90 minutes ago has passed completely due to these wonderful links and the exploration thereof.

Thanks Sean ... and I see that there is a lot of very . tasty . stuff on your website too; beautiful!
posted by woodblock100 at 4:25 AM on August 12, 2007

thanks a lot
posted by nicolin at 5:17 AM on August 13, 2007