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What is it?
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'Remarque' is a French word that means remark, notice, note.
It consists of one or more sketches, sometimes a text, which appear in the margins of some etched ex libris. The phenomenon of the remarque occurs almost exclusively in Germany in the period between 1900 and 1930. They are often related to the subject of the ex libris, but sometimes their content has nothing to do with it. |
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This detail of the print shows the typical soft, velvet-like grey tones.
Click to enlarge. |
A mezzotint print is easily recognizable by its velvety character.
It has an infinite range of shades between black and white, so many intermediate shades. Hence the name derived from the Italian 'mezzo' which means 'middle'. The mezzotint is, just like the etching, an intaglio technique but in contrast to the etching, where the drawing is etched in the metal by an acid, the plate is 'mechanically' processed: the surface is roughened all over b |
Why?
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What were they for, those little scribbles?
They only occur in etchings because they originally served to determine how long the etching process should take. |
Which subjects are used?
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Rarely are they planned sketches. They are usually spontaneously emerging ideas. Often they are associations with the theme of the ex libris.
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This detail of the print shows the typical soft, velvet-like grey tones.
Click to enlarge. |
A mezzotint print is easily recognizable by its velvety character.
It has an infinite range of shades between black and white, so many intermediate shades. Hence the name derived from the Italian 'mezzo' which means 'middle'. Th |
Some examples
What is in it for the collector?
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This detail of the print shows the typical soft, velvet-like grey tones.
Click to enlarge. |
It is a little used technique because it is laborious and time-consuming. In addition, this technique allows only a small number of copies.
However, the mezzotint is regularly used to support other techniques. Usually the drawing is worked out on copper plate. The example below is an exceptional case of a mezzotint made on a nickel plate. |
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Rocker, scraper and burnisher, the tools needed for making a mezzotint.
Click to enlarge. |
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