Edward Hopper, Martin Lewis, and etchings

[terse]

Interesting brief introduction to Martin Lewis, an etcher who was a mentor of Edward Hopper and, as you'll see, a distinct influence on his painting:

Discover the Artist Who Mentored Edward Hopper & Inspired “Nighthawks”

Every good teacher must be prepared for the students who surpass them. Such was the case with Martin Lewis, Edward Hopper's onetime teacher, an Australian-born printmaker who left rural Victoria at age 15 and traveled the world before settling in New York City in 1900 to make his fame and fortune.

www.openculture.com

 

[ImageArt]

Interesting brief introduction to Martin Lewis, an etcher who was a mentor of Edward Hopper and, as you'll see, a distinct influence on his painting:

Discover the Artist Who Mentored Edward Hopper & Inspired “Nighthawks”

Every good teacher must be prepared for the students who surpass them. Such was the case with Martin Lewis, Edward Hopper's onetime teacher, an Australian-born printmaker who left rural Victoria at age 15 and traveled the world before settling in New York City in 1900 to make his fame and fortune.

www.openculture.com

I love printmaking. It's something I've always wanted to do particularly collagraphs. These etchings are wonderful.

 

[JillyG]

Interesting brief introduction to Martin Lewis, an etcher who was a mentor of Edward Hopper and, as you'll see, a distinct influence on his painting:

Discover the Artist Who Mentored Edward Hopper & Inspired “Nighthawks”

Every good teacher must be prepared for the students who surpass them. Such was the case with Martin Lewis, Edward Hopper's onetime teacher, an Australian-born printmaker who left rural Victoria at age 15 and traveled the world before settling in New York City in 1900 to make his fame and fortune.

www.openculture.com

They look so like photographs it’s uncanny. What an artist.

 

[GroovyGouvy]

Interesting brief introduction to Martin Lewis, an etcher who was a mentor of Edward Hopper and, as you'll see, a distinct influence on his painting:

Discover the Artist Who Mentored Edward Hopper & Inspired “Nighthawks”

Every good teacher must be prepared for the students who surpass them. Such was the case with Martin Lewis, Edward Hopper's onetime teacher, an Australian-born printmaker who left rural Victoria at age 15 and traveled the world before settling in New York City in 1900 to make his fame and fortune.

www.openculture.com

Stunning pictures. And if they were etched directly on the plate remember he had to put it down mirrored! But as beautiful as it all looks I suppose he did the drawing and copied it to the printing plate. They are absolutely beautiful.

 

[RoseCat]

Interesting brief introduction to Martin Lewis, an etcher who was a mentor of Edward Hopper and, as you'll see, a distinct influence on his painting:

Discover the Artist Who Mentored Edward Hopper & Inspired “Nighthawks”

Every good teacher must be prepared for the students who surpass them. Such was the case with Martin Lewis, Edward Hopper's onetime teacher, an Australian-born printmaker who left rural Victoria at age 15 and traveled the world before settling in New York City in 1900 to make his fame and fortune.

www.openculture.com

They’re beautiful.... I love his use of darkness, shadow and light, so moody. And of course I love that they’re NYC street scenes. Thanks for sharing this, Ted!

 

[terse]

I love printmaking. It's something I've always wanted to do particularly collagraphs. These etchings are wonderful.

Have you heard of solarplate? I'll add some links below, but basically, it's a plate with a photopolymer coating that can be exposed with sunlight (or any UV light source) and then "etched" with a scrub brush and plain water -- no acids or other toxic stuff. From the processed plate, you can do relief and/or intaglio prints. And you can use photos to expose the plate by printing the images on a clear sheet (like overhead transparency sheets) and laying that over the plate during exposure. (Just like traditional relief/intaglio prints, you need multiple plates or multiple inkings to get a multi-colored print.)

You can use the hashtag #solarplate on Instagram to see what people are doing with it.

Solarplate is actually a brand name, and their web site is here:

Solarplate Etching

an innovative, safer approach to printmaking

solarplate.com

And there are a number of YouTube videos on the process as well. One that gives a good overview of the process features Dan Welden (who is The Man when it comes to solarplate). He's got a big studio and a comparably big etching press you see in the video, but you can get by without the press, especially for small prints, and without all that space.

 

[terse]

Stunning pictures. And if they were etched directly on the plate remember he had to put it down mirrored! But as beautiful as it all looks I suppose he did the drawing and copied it to the printing plate. They are absolutely beautiful.

In some limited searching, I haven't found anything about his process, except this:

"Martin Lewis drew all the time, many of his prints have ten or more study drawings. Once the artist had worked out the composition he would produce the final study before starting on the copper plate. There are a few changes from this image to the plate, however, those changes are noted with pencil marks on the drawing."

which might suggest he was working directly on the plate. Or might not.

 

[terse]

A little further reading also makes it clear that "mentor" is a bit strong. Hopper was already doing etchings, and Lewis taught him some techniques. The two were friends for a while in New York and shared an artistic vision. While Hopper returned to painting, Lewis stayed with printmaking, but prints and Lewis fell out of favor while painting and Hopper rose. Looking at Lewis' work now, it's hard to believe that, at one point, his work sometimes didn't even reach its reserve price at auction.