The New York Etching Club Minutes

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Collection Editor:

Stephen Fredericks

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Collection Editor:

Stephen Fredericks Authors:

Stephen Fredericks marilyn kushner

Online:

< http://cnx.org/content/col10663/1.1/ >

C O N N E X I O N S

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Collection structure revised: February 27, 2009 PDF generated: October 26, 2012

For copyright and attribution information for the modules contained in this collection, see p. 208.

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1 Acknowledgments . . . 1

2 Preface . . . 3

3 About This Book . . . 5

4 Introduction: The Birth of American Artist Printmaking . . . 7

5 1877 Minutes of the New York Etching Club . . . 17

22 The Constitution of the New York Etching Club . . . .. . . 197

Index . . . 206

Attributions . . . .208

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Available for free at Connexions <http://cnx.org/content/col10663/1.1>

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Chapter 1

Acknowledgments

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1.1 Acknowledgments

In 1998, Ms. Roberta Waddell, Curator of the New York Public Library Print Collection, started me on my journey with the New York Etching Club. Her passion for prints, printmakers, art history, and discovery is a continuing source of inspiration, and I am grateful for her support and guidance through my years of research at the library. I also would like to thank the library's unique sta of associates in the microlm division, whose patience and creative approach contributed broadly to this eort.

I owe a great deal of appreciation to historian, writer, and print dealer Ms. Rona Schneider for alerting me to the existence of the New York Etching Club minutes, and pointing me in the direction of the National Academy of Design. Rona's patience, curiosity, sense of humor, and generosity were a constant source of motivation. Her professional perspective and personal inuence can be found throughout this book.

I am deeply indebted to the National Academy of Design for providing me a photocopy of the minutes;

to Ms. Annette Blaugrund, then Executive Director of the National Academy, for allowing me permission to proceed with the publishing project; and to Mr. Marshall Price for his assistance with several technical matters.

Mr. and Mrs. Dave Williams provided me virtually unrestricted access to their world-class nineteenth- century print collection at the Print Research Foundation in Stamford, Connecticut. This made it possible for me to bring the minutes alive with reproductions of period etchings. I cannot thank them enough for their support and generosity. Their excellent sta, including Emily Hall, deserves mention for its always professional and cheerful assistance.

Martin Hopkinson, former archivist of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers, who graciously conducted critical research in London for this project, also deserves acknowledgment. I remain indebted to him for to his generosity and enthusiasm.

Marilyn Kushner, PhD, another professional role model of mine, gracefully provided publishing advice, editorial perspective, and a preface to this book. It has been a privilege to share the development of this project with her.

Editor Bernard Rittersporn warrants special mention for the commitment and long hours he dedicated to this project. Another outstanding editor, Pat Kirkham, contributed greatly to the structure of my introduction. Both served repeatedly as a source of encouragement.

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Graphic designer Lou Netter's work on the overall layout and design of this book, coupled with his lively artistic touch, has made for a timely and personal approach to the project. I am most thankful for his patience and commitment. Close friend and graphic designer Rina Drucker Root also deserves recognition for her early contributions to the format of the book and many later recommendations.

Mentor Will Barnet and I spent many afternoons over the last ten years discussing early American artist etching during our visits to Gramercy Park. Having crossed the path of more than one of the New York Etching Club members during his early career, he added unparalleled life to this book.

I would also like to express my deep appreciation to Fred Moody, Editor-in-Chief of Rice University Press. It was Fred who rst embraced my vision for a digital and traditional approach to publishing this book. His skillful guidance of our working relationship has continuously been a great source of inspiration and excitement. I will remain most grateful for the seeing through of this project with him, and creating in the process one of the most unique print world references available.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Anne-Rose van den Bossche, for her enduring patience during the years when great portions of this project were laid out on our dining-room table. Without her support, love, and remarkable gift for listening, this project would never have been completed.

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Chapter 2

Preface

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2.1 Preface

It all began in 1877, when thirteen artists gathered together in the studio of a brother artist, `to assist' in the production of a print.² Such was the founding of the New York Etching Club, later to be called the Society of American Etchers.³ The timing was ripe: New York galleries were showing etchings; collectors were amassing print collections; and there was an active group of American etchers working in Venice.⁴

While the etching renaissance that occurred in Europe in the 1860s and in the United States in the 1870s and 1880s is well known, the documented activities of the New York Etching Club have not been broadly available to scholars, collectors and other interested parties until now. The publication of this volume oers us an invaluable gaze into the world of late-nineteenth century American printmaking, and indeed American art in general.

Quite obviously, the history of the etching club and its exhibitions as placed into a broader art historical context by Stephen Fredericks will become a seminal document in the study of this etching renaissance. Not only does it note salient events of the group, but it also references other graphic exhibitions in the 1870s and 1880s. On a broader scale, one will now be able to glean data regarding chronologies of the artists involved, when they were in New York, where they lived, and what they were doing during this period. We can learn which members, at certain times, were not in New York (and at times why they were not present). The minutes also give us a glimpse into the nances of the print world and, indeed, the art world in general.

Similarly, seemingly mundane activities are accounted (for example, the impending visit of Dr. Seymour Hayden of London is recorded in the minutes of 16 October 1882). Such notations can lead scholars down heretofore unknown roads.

In short, this volume will become vital to anyone who seeks to broaden the window into late nineteenth- century American art and to help explicate issues of American art and culture at that time. American printmaking studies owes a note of thanks to Stephen Fredericks for making a contribution that will serve the eld for years to come.

Marilyn S. Kushner, PhD, Curator and Head, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Ar- chitectural Collections, New-York Historical Society

1This content is available online at <http://cnx.org/content/m19782/1.2/>.

2Catalogue of the New York Etching Club Exhibition (1882), n.p.

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Chapter 3

About This Book

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3.1 About This Book

The primary reason for publishing this book is to make the minutes of the New York Etching Club accessible to other researchers and scholars. To that end, our edition is as true a "typewritten" copy of the handwritten original as possible. That is, the minutes are presented precisely as they were written down in the minutes' book. I have made virtually no corrections of spelling, grammar or punctuation errors. Without exception, every word, notation, abbreviation, hyphenation, and space is recorded as entered in the original.

Misspellings of artists' names, in particular, occur constantly throughout the minutes, and two dierent spellings of an artist's surname in a single entry are common. These are left uncorrected, and everyday nineteenth-century English and abbreviations in use at the time are also preserved. Thus everything about the original appears as authentically as possible without interpretation or editing.

The original minutes were recorded in a tablet-like notebook measuring approximately 5 x 7 inches and covered with a black-and-white marbled paper familiar to all grade-school children. The pages in the notebook are lined. All of the minutes were recorded with pen and mostly in black ink. They were written largely in a beautiful, even elegant, nineteenth-century script that at times is also nearly indecipherable. There are no illustrations of any kind. The New York Etching Club secretaries responsible for the minutes began with James D. Smillie, the club's principal founder. Smillie was followed, in order, by James Craig Nicoll, William H. Shelton, Alexander Schilling, Charles Frederick William Mielatz, Henry Farrer, and Frederick Dielman.

There is clear evidence that James D. Smillie lled in over the yearsoften anonymouslyas secretary.

The rst six pages of the original minutes book were left intentionally blank. Hand-numbered pages and text begin on the seventh page, which is numbered 7, and end on the page numbered 23, after which the pages are unnumbered. Because these rst seventeen pages look more nished in appearance than the following pages, and are somewhat more grammatically consistent, it is likely that Smillie recorded them elsewhere, then copied them into the minutes book sometime between February and December 1879. This conclusion is supported by a reference in the February 10, 1879, minutes to 85 cents being spent on a Book for minutes.

The minutes tend to err on the side of discretion, the secretaries taking care to protect reputations and honor friendships. There is little emotion and rarely is there direct mention of controversy among the members. The minutes also fail to provide a comprehensive record of the members' exhibitions, catalogue

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Exactly how and under what circumstances the minute-taking came to an end is unknown. When the extant records abruptly stop in December 1893, the mood seems optimistic and forward-looking.

The minutes as presented in this book are illustrated with prints culled mainly from the extraordinary collection of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Williams, held at The Print Research Foundation in Stamford, Connecticut.

Use of the foundation's archival research records made it possible in most instances to place the reproductions in the minutes for the year in which they were shown in New York Etching Club exhibitions. Most of the remaining reproductions were made from originals that appeared as illustrations in exhibition catalogues published by the New York Etching Club or other period publications.

Stephen A. Fredericks October 29, 2008

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Chapter 4

Introduction: The Birth of American Artist Printmaking

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In the 1882 catalogue for the New York Etching Club's rst independent exhibition at the National Academy of Design, club founder James David Smillie published a colorful, highly romanticized account² of the group's rst meeting, held ve years before:

About twenty interested artists had gathered one evening, by invitation, in the studio of a brother artist, to assist. The scene was no doubt ttingly picturesque. Let us imagine a central light, properly shaded, above a table upon which are the simple appliances of etching. Aloft, a great sky-light is lled with dusky gloom; remote corners recede into profound shadow; easels loom up bearing vaguely dened work in progress; screens and rugs, bric-a-brac, all the aesthetic properties that we may believe to be the correct furniture of such a place, assume proper and subordinate relations. Our imaginations having furnished the background, let us go on with the history.

Those twenty interested artists formed an impatient circle and hurried through the forms of organization, anxious for the commencement of the real work of the evening. Copper plates were displayed; grounds were laid (that is, delicate coatings of resinous wax were spread upon the plates); etchings were made (that is, designs scratched with ne points or needles through such grounds upon the copper); trays of mordant bubbled (that is, the acid corroded the metal exposed by the scratched lines, the surface elsewhere being protected from such action by the wax ground), to the discomfort of noses, the eager wearers of which were crowding and craning to see the work in progress.

This process being completed, in cleansing the wax grounds and varnish from the plates the fumes of turpentine succeeded those of acid. Then an elegant brother who had dined out early in the evening, laid aside his broadcloth, rolled up the spotless linen of his sleeves, and became for the

1This content is available online at <http://cnx.org/content/m19783/1.4/>.

2The New York Etching Club Exhibition Catalogue, 1882. This account was reprinted a few years later in J.R.W. Hitchcock's

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time an enthusiastic printer. The smear of thick, pasty ink was deftly rubbed into the lines just corroded, and as deftly cleaned from the polished surface; the damped sheet of thin, silky Japan paper was spread upon the gently warmed plate; the heavy steel roller of the printing press, with its triple facing of thick, soft blanket, was slowly rolled over it, and in another moment, nding scant room, the rst-born of the New York Etching Club was being tenderly passed from hand to hand.

Smillie's catalog copy notwithstanding, the meeting was both a gathering of artists and a business ini- tiative. Smillie and his constituents were intent on creating and serving a potentially lucrative market in the emerging American art world, which was characterized at the time by a gold rush of artist organization. American industries of all kinds were expanding, and New York's youthful native art world, following suit, saw talented and ambitious artists claiming newly created niches. Smillie himself had worked towards forming an etching club for years.

In 1877, the year the New York Etching Club was founded, there was no recognized arts capital in the United States. But within a relatively short time, building on the strength of established cultural institutions, enormous population growth, the Industrial Revolution, and a post- Civil War economic expansion, there was an explosion of artist organization locally that would eventually see New York City take center stage on the national art scene, with graphic arts at the center of the action.

New York was replete with well-known artists' studio buildings in the late 1870s. Most of the artists at the rst meeting of the club lived or worked in one of threeincluding Smillie's studio building, where that rst meeting was held. The attendees knew each other from other associations, including the National Academy of Design, the Salmagundi Sketch Club, and the American Water Color Society. (In reality, the New York Etching Club was an oshoot of the American Water Color Society.)

The Industrial Revolution brought along with it a rapid expansion of the graphic arts. Men and women all over New York were llingand endeavoring to controlall manner of newly created markets. When the New York Etching Club was formed, there were already models for such societies in New York, and Smillie was also well aware of organizational activities among etchers in France and Great Britain, and the staging for such in Philadelphia and Boston. Exclusive artists' clubs could oer many benets, from the sharing of technical expertise to promoting artists and their genres. Smillie was eager to promote etching and see it develop into a viable business endeavor. By 1882, his work was producing dividends: The public embraced the New York Etching Club's rst stand-alone exhibition, and members' works sold well.

The original twenty-one members of the New York Etching Club were all established and even important artists in other genres. Most were experienced painters; others were photographers, architects, designers, or recognized for their commercial trade work in engraving, lithography and mezzotint. There were a few experienced etchers among them, but none was a practicing artist-printmaker by today's standards. With a few exceptionsmost notably, Robert Swain Giord and Henry Farreretching as a medium for artistic expression was new to most of the club's rst members.

Smillie's ambitions aside, many of the etching novices appear to have been motivated to learn etching more out of aesthetic interest than business interest at rst. There was, after all, no real market for artist prints in the club's early years.³ At the club's founding, no one foresaw the boom in the collecting of etchings that lay just ahead. Prior to late 1881, the New York Etching Club functioned as much as a social club organized around a growing interest among artists in free hand or painter etching as it was a group interested in becoming serious printmakers of saleable works.

In 1883, for example, the noted critic M. G. van Rensselaer reected⁴ upon the New York Etching Club

3The etchers did not create the market for print sales in America. On the contrary, there had existed for decades a well- developed market for decorative engravings, lithographs, wood engravings, mezzotints and reproductive etchings. The new artist etchings, or painter etchings, however, were a departure from mass- produced prints. Lithographic artists largely shared a common graphic art style, as was the case with wood and metal plate engraving. Broadly standardized graphic arts styles rendered these media predictable in appearance and somewhat commonplace in the eyes of the public. The evolution of the painter etcher provided many of those already working in the printing trades an artistic outlet and untapped market for their free hand etchings.

4M.G. van Rensselaer in The Century Magazine, Vol. XXV, No. 4, February 1883, page 486.

(<http://cnx.org/content/m19783/latest/Rensselaer.pdf>)

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as:

an association formed by a few earnest students of the art to incite activity by brotherly reunions and to spread its results by annual exhibitions. The young society went through that struggle for existence which seems ordained for babes of every sorteven for those which, like this artistic infant, are well fathered and tenderly watched over. The public was indierent, and some of the club's own members were too much absorbed in other work even to heed that condition of membership which prescribed that each should produce at least two plates every year. But though its survival was due to the pains and sacrices of a few men who deserve well of the republic, the Etching Club is more potent than any other inuence in aiding the progress of the art among us and in winning the public to its love.

Early on, many of the practitioners of etching were fascinated by the process, including the accidents that could occur while the plate was submerged in mordant. Chance atmospheric accents and the plates that produced them were prized by the American artists. They quickly found means and techniques for controlling their accidents, and the employment of these new techniques enhanced the general feeling of creative freedom associated with etching. Artistically derived special eects dierentiated the etchings from the highly standardized prints associated with engraving and lithographyarts dominated by schools of technique. The more artists experimented with the etching process, the more they shared their technical discoveries at club meetings, in private studios, and in books and articles they wrote. This widespread sharing of technological discoveries set the stage for a practice and code of conduct that is at the core of American artist printmaking today.

During the earlier years of the New York Etching Club, the color and quality of printing papers took on great importance to the printmakers. They perfected Chine collé, a paper laminating process, and began experimenting with alternate print matrixes, such as silk. Soon the atmospheric eects of palm-wiping plates (a signature of many early club member prints) gave way to new methods of carrying tone. Larger and larger plates were being worked by important artists, and by the late 1880s color inks began appearing regularly in prints. Soft ground, a technique that could impart elements of drawing and some of the qualities of lithography, was widely introduced in artist studios and used to superb eect. The end result of all of this technical development and aesthetic specialization was the division of artists into roughly dened competitive schools of practice.

The burgeoning popularity of the new free hand etchings during the mid-1880s coincided with a post- Civil War boom that helped create an expansive American market for art. The boom stimulated advances in graphic arts printing and the development of new reproduction technologies in mechanical engraving, photography, photogravure, and color lithography. These events helped usher in the establishment of new ne art print publishers, dealers and collectors, along with a consumer market for new magazines and books full of art criticism and articlesillustrated with original etchings. The merger and success of these eorts formed a new paradigm of sorts as artists' clubs and societies for nearly every aspect of ne art appeared in New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati, among other large American cities. And at the hub of much of the excitement for most of the 1880s was the etching needle.

It is important to note that the rise of etching in the late nineteenth century was not a movement unto itself. Labeling the period's activities in etching as an isolated movement discounts the extraordinary activity in related graphic artsand their importance to the artists. What began in 1877 with the formation of the New York Etching Club can best be placed as part of a golden age in the arts generally and the already ourishing graphic arts movement in America at the end of the nineteenth century. A great deal of the appeal of free hand etching to both artists and their public was rooted in an already well-established taste for drawingthe most fundamental of the graphic arts. Interest in etching was supported by a broader movement that included work in graphite, charcoals, pastel, crayon, and innumerable forms of commercial illustration work.

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Figure 4.1: Stephen Parrish, An Etcher's Studio, 1884. Etching. (Courtesy of Ms. Rona Schneider.) Available for free at Connexions <http://cnx.org/content/col10663/1.1>

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Our public libraries and private institutions hold a staggering amount of material and supporting docu- mentation on this graphic arts movement. Such publications as American Art Review, The Art Review, The Art Journal, The Magazine of Art, The Critic, The Quarterly Illustrator, Scribner's, The Century Magazine, and The Art Amateur contained innumerable announcements, reviews and criticism of graphic art exhibitions, and reproductions of individual prints. Countless other illustrated publications were designed around and focused upon their graphic art content.

In the years just prior to the founding of the New York Etching Club, both the Salmagundi Sketch Club and the Art Students League of New York (both still active today) were organized around drawing and sketching classes. As early as 1876, the American Water Color Society was setting aside separate spacethe Black & White Roomfor the exhibition and sale of drawings, charcoals, and etchings. Shortly after Smillie launched the New York Etching Club, the Tile Club and Scratcher's Club were established, as were numerous similar groups in related graphic art media, including woodcut and lithography.

The minutes reproduced in this volume highlight many of the roles played by the New York Etching Club in this larger movement. They also highlight the club's inuence: In 1880, for example, in a sequence of events that began with the November 1880 minutes entry, the etchers were invited to exhibit both at the February 1881 exhibit of the American Water Color Society, to be held at the American Academy of Design, and at the Salmagundi Sketch Club exhibit, to be held in the same venue in December 1880. Opting enthusiastically for the latter, etching club members accounted for thirty-four of the 130 etchings by nearly fty artists exhibited at the The Third Annual Exhibit of Black & White Art. Numerous the other etchings were contributed by such future club members as Thomas Moran and Stephen Parrish. No etchings were exhibited at the American Water Color Society's February 1881 exhibition.⁵

It would have surprised no one then familiar with the prevailing art world that the New York Etching Club artists jumped at the chance to exhibit in the Salmagundi Club exhibition rather than the American Water Color Society's. The signicance of this decision has been widely overlooked, however. Not only were the early Salmagundi Sketch Club exhibitions quite popular with both artists and the viewing public, but the New York Etching Club members also wanted to be aligned with other active graphic artists, and have their new etchings seen alongside other widely practiced forms of graphic art. When their members were granted the autonomy they apparently sought, the New York Etching Club returned to the watercolorists' fold in February 1882,⁶ with a triumphant showing of works by notable artists of the day, including Frederick S.

Church, Samuel Colman, Stephen J. Ferris, Seymour Haden (founder of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers, London), Thomas Moran, Stephen Parrish (Maxeld's father), Joseph Pennell, Charles A. Platt, R. Giord Swain, J. A. McNeil Whistler, and James D. Smillie.

By the mid-1880s, members of the New York Etching Club could be forgiven for being a little heady about their success and the popularity of their work. New books about etching and printmaking, including S. R. Koehler's Etching: An Outline of its Technical Processes and its History (1885), and J.

R. W. Hitchcock's Etching in America (1886), were appearing with increasingly frequency. Commercial production of new print editions and group portfolios abounded, and exhibition opportunities for artist printmakers were expanding exponentially. But just below the surface, subtle cracks in the club's foundation were beginning to appear.

In August 1886, two short, rather enthusiastic notices referencing the New York Etching Club appeared

5See The American Water Color Society's 1881 exhibition catalog. See also The Salmagundi Sketch Club's Third Annual Exhibition of Black & White Art, catalogue documenting the December 18, 1880, to January 1, 1881, show at the National Academy of Design, New York City.

6The American Water Color Society had enormous inuence on the development, support, and organizational structure of the New York Etching Club. James D. Smillie was the watercolor society's president in 1877, the year he founded the etching club. Throughout the etching club's active exhibiting years, their elected and appointed ocers were often interchangeable, by name if not title, with those of the watercolorists' society.At times the organizational ties between the New York Etching Club and the American Water Color Society made for a virtual identity crisis. For example, the February 11, 1881 minutes record the unanimous decision by members for a resolution applying to The Water Color Society for space in their next exhibition.

The minutes also note that the President [R. Swain Giord] and Secretary [Henry Farrer] were directed to bring the matter

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in Art Review Magazine. One noted the forthcoming auction of an important collection of paintings, the catalogue for which would be illustrated with reproductive etchings by several club members. The other cited club plans to exhibit the same prints during the annual show that would open to the public at the end of January 1887. Later, reviews of the club's important exhibition in publications, including The Critic on February 5, were less than attering. Reviewers raised questions about the inclusion of large numbers of reproductive prints done by artists after other artists' paintings, commercially commissioned and published prints, and excessively large plates. The criticism highlighted growing ssures in the club over divergent commercial ambitions and aesthetics among its membership.

A year later, in the February 24, 1888, club minutes, the club member Hamilton Hamilton proposed excluding from future shows reproductive etchings and returning as far as practical to the original status of a painter-etchers exhibition. The issue was resolved with the decision that work will be received at the future exhibitions of the New York Etching Club only from individual etchers, except at the request of the Club. The decision was intended to exclude submissions by most publishers and dealers to future shows. In June 1888, The Critic reported a rened version of the decision stating that the New York Etching Club has announced that at the next exhibition the size of plates will be limited, and no work will be received from publishers. This step has been rendered necessary by the amount of commercial work now executed by all but the very best etchers.⁷

By 1888, then, an inuential group within the New York Etching Club strongly favored a commitment to original prints over reproductive prints. This same group appears to have favored aggressive commercial production of large to unlimited print editions that served existing relationships with galleries and publishers.

Another group held conicting points of view about the meaning of originality, particularly relating to reproductive etchings after their own paintings. This group also favored limiting edition sizes of new plates and imposing strict quality and integrity standards on the commercial ambition of publishers and galleries.

On the surface, these dierences could have threatened to split the club apart, if not entirely destroy it.⁸ Announcements began appearing in the press that summer about the formation of the new Society of American Etchers.⁹ The Magazine of Art noted that Thomas Moran has been elected President, Frederick Dielman Treasurer, and C. Y. Turner Secretary of the new Society of American Etchers with the view of elevating the art of etching in this country, and limiting editions by guaranteeing to the publication of each member the stamp of the Society, in the same way that the English prints are protected by the Printseller's stamp.¹⁰

The new society's rst exhibition was held that fall at the Ortgies Gallery in New York City. The show included etchings by Thomas Moran, Mary Nimmo Moran, Charles Platt, Stephen Parrish, and Kruseman van Elten, among others. A November 25, 1888, exhibit notice in The New York Times included mention of reproductive work after an artist's own work by Thomas Wood, and another by William Sartain after a painting by Percy Moran. Thomas Moran exhibited his print Mountain of the Holy Cross, known to be after his painting of the same title. Clearly, reproductive prints were within the mission of the group. Members of the Society of American Etchers were to be known as artists endeavoring to protect their etchings from commercial abuse and misunderstanding through control of edition size (commercial and private), quality, and a guarantee of publishers' integrity.

The formation of the Society of American Etchers should not be misconstrued as a political response to

7The Critic, June 9, 1888.

8Politics played an ever-present role in the club's life. The club's organizational structure provided for a closed decision- making process, particularly regarding the election of new members. See Article II, Section 4, of the club constitution. Election of members was taken seriously and is one of the few activities well documented in the minutes. Etching ability and artistic skill played an important role in the nomination of new members, although membership in the inuential American Water Color Society was an unspoken mitigating factor. For example, in 1888, AWCS member Reginald Cleveland Coxe was elected to non-resident membership on the strength of fewer than a half-dozen etchings, which were reproductions of his own paintings.

This could only have served to alienate many early and regular exhibitors like John Henry Hill, Champney Wells, Stephen Ferris (a remarkable artist and etcher), Benjamin Lander, John Millspaugh, and F. De B. Richards, who all ceased exhibiting inde- pendently with the club shortly after Coxe's election. Attendance at meetings appears to have been another hot button. There were many resident members who appear to have rarely or never attended a meeting and are never cited for nonattendance, while others were summarily dismissed over the years for nonattendance.

9The Critic, August 11, 1888.

10The Magazine of Art, August 14, 1888

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the resolution passed by the New York Etching Club banning all but original etchings. It is unlikely that there was a great deal of hostility between the groups over their respective positions regarding originality. It appears, rather, that the founding of the Society of American Etchers was an eort to protect the integrity of the New York Etching Club by providing an alternate vehicle for stands that could not be reconciled with favored, and by then traditional, club practices. The American Society of Etchers provided shelter for a dierent consensus about what constituted an original print, and a dierent way of assessing the artistic value of prints. These artist printmakers were free to exhibit without drawing the ire of critics down on the New York Etching Club. But they were not without their detractors in the greater art world.

Despite the dierences between the New York Etching Club and the Society of American Etchers, members of both groups shared erce commitments to craft, quality, and professionalismstandards that helped form the earliest basis for artists identifying themselves as American artist printmakers. The minutes con- tain records of several discussions club members held about merging with the Society of American Etchers (though not, unfortunately, about issues central to their potential incompatibility). Nonetheless, their shared values, along with their debates over originality, integrity, and print edition size, continue today to inform the modern American artist printmaker.

When the New York Etching Club was founded, while there were numerous technically skilled reproductive and commercial etchers, there was but a small handful of local artists working artistically with the medium. By the late 1880s, there were hundreds of accomplished American artist printmakers. These men and women began taking sides on matters of aesthetics, commerce, and the merits of various print-making materials, including metal plates, etching needles, grounds, mordants, inks, and printing papers. By then, many of these artists had their own etching presses and were known as skilled printers. They passionately debated the pros and cons of plate-wiping techniques, false-biting, and roulettes, and they ferociously en- gaged each other in conversation over a question that still confronts us today: What constitutes an original print? There is a reference in the February 19, 1892 minutes to the organization of a Special Retrospective Exhibition of the Best American Etchings made since 1876, for presentation at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. Although the retrospective never materialized, the minutes entry demonstrates that 1876 stood as the year in the minds of artists when their experience as American artist printmakers ocially began.

The New York Etching Club ushered in the age of American artist printmaking by inspiring the creation of countless etchings by their members and hundreds of other artists, and thus left in their wake a priceless legacy of art worka tiny portion of which is reproduced in this volume. The club's beginnings took place in the midst of the growth of a wider market for works on paper, for decorative books, limited-edition illustrated books, and the rst American artist books incorporating original prints. In the wake of the etching boom, there remained used etching presses (including some that made their way into schools), new technologies, and a new generation of largely self-trained printmakers, some of whom would pass the skills of their craft on to others. In less than a decade, these rst adepts grew from amateur practitioners of etching to artist printmakers concerned with every facet of the making and marketing of ne prints. This remarkable explosion was part of a genuine paradigm shift in the arts.

Some writers have suggested that the demise of the New York Etching Club was largely due to the collapse of the commercial market for etchings, brought on by a combination of over-saturation of the retail market with mediocre work by minor artists in concert with the actions of greedy publishers and unscrupulous dealers. While these factors did play a role, there were other, greater forces at work. The 1888 release, Important New Etchings by American Artists,¹¹ which contained prints by Otto Bacher, Charles Platt, J. D. Smillie, and William St. John Harper, also included an essay by J.R.W. Hitchcock, entitled Future of Etching, in which Hitchcock warned that the advent of photogravure posed a threat to etching.

Hitchcock attributed the growing interest of artists in the medium to photogravure's superior reproductive qualities, a familiar intaglio process, and a growing popularity with the public.

It is not known why The New York Etching Club minute- taking came to an end. When the minute records abruptly stop in December 1893, the mood seems optimistic and forward-looking despite a faltering

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national economy. In the 1893 New York Etching Club exhibition catalogue, James D. Smillie had referred to the bright future of etching, and he expressed similar optimism in such journals as the Quarterly Illustrator¹². By 1894, however, some critics were discussing etching as a thing of the past. The Sun¹³ published an extensive article that year, entitled The Fate of Etching, which chronicled the decline of etching as it lambasted dealers and publishers for etching's drop in popularity.

There were other distractions for artists and the public. By the early 1890s, the Art Nouveau movement was in full swing on the east coast, the Plein Air movement was in high gear on the west coast, and woodcut artists and potters were helping drive an expanding decorative arts and crafts movement on both coasts.

There was also a national trend towards the collecting of Asian arts. The New York Etching Club further aided and abetted its demise in the face of these trends by strictly controlling its formal membership, thus excluding many promising young artists who might have sustained the club well into the twentieth century.

The fact that many of the early club members were established as artists in other media also helped hasten the decline. When the market for etchings ebbed, many of the early artist etchers Stephen Parrish, for examplefell back on their painting careers.

Although etching died out as the most visible force in the subsiding graphic arts movement, a few highly successful artists, including Thomas Moran, continued making large prints that sold well. James D. Smillie went on making beautiful prints and became a teacher of etching, and Joseph Pennell would go on making prints for years, ultimately contributing to a revival of the medium in the early 1910s. Other, later members of the clubmost notably Charles Mielatzcontinued experimenting with the medium, taking the art of etching o in new urban directions.

The American Water Color Society continued to show etchings after the New York Etching Club ended its formal exhibitions in 1894. Evidence of such is noted in reviews of their exhibitions in The Magazine of Art in 1895 and 1896, and as late as 1898 in The Art Amateur magazine.

A few years after the death of James D. Smillie in 1909, a edgling group of artist printmakers calling themselves the New York Society of Etchers organized in 1913. New York Etching Club member Joseph Pennell exhibited in the group's rst show, in 1914, as did several relative newcomers, including Kerr Eby, Bertha Jacques, George Plowman, and Ernest Roth. When this group returned in 1916 for a second exhibition under the banner of the Brooklyn Etching Club,¹⁴the list of exhibitors included Charles F. W. Mielatz, the rising American artist printmakers John Taylor Arms, John Marin, John Sloan, and dozens more. The rst

12See the le at <http://cnx.org/content/m19783/latest/smillie.pdf>

13See the le at <http://cnx.org/content/m19783/latest/THE FATE OF ETCHING.doc>

14Keeping track of etchers, etchers' organizations, and any given organization's provenance and membership can have a researcher wobbling between the vexing and the entertaining. When John Taylor Arms, for example, tried his hand at a brief history of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, his Annual Report of the President, 1932, which accounted for how the Brooklyn Society of Etchers came to be known as the Society of American Etchers, also took a futile stab at the daunting task of documenting late-nineteenth- century etchers' organizations.While Arms's report states that the Society of American Etchers was formed in 1880, the New York Times, The Magazine of Art, The Art Amateur, and The Critic Magazine all reported 1888 as the year of the society's founding. It was generally reported that year that Thomas Moran had been elected President, Frederick Dielman Treasurer, and C. Y. Turner Secretary of the new Society of American Etchers. The November 25, 1888, New York Times also reported that the new society was holding a small exhibition in The Ortgies Gallery (on lower Fifth Avenue) and that Most if not all of the members are of the New York Etching Club. That exhibition included etchings by Thomas Moran, Mary Nimmo Moran, Charles Platt, and Stephen Parrish, among others. Mr. Arms' annual report also stated that The incorporation of the society as the Society of American Etchers, and its amalgamation with the earlier Society of American Etchers, was accomplished on December 17, 1931, and that by joining the original Society of American Etchers, the Brooklyn Society of Etchers becomes, in a sense, the oldest print organization in America. Actually, there were several older American printmakers' groups: the Boston Etching Club, formed in February 1880; the Philadelphia Society of Etchers, formed in May 1880; and the Cincinnati Etching Club, formed in fall 1880. Oldest of all was the New York Etching Club, which held its rst meeting on November 12, 1877. My research into late nineteenth- century printmakers has occasionally led me to early twentieth-century print exhibition catalogues, including some from the Brooklyn Society of Etchers. Particularly interesting are those revealing connections to such nineteenth- century printmakers as Frederick Dielman, Mary Cassatt, Edith Loring Getchell, Charles Mielatz and Joseph Pennell, among others. Years ago, while perusing microlm spools at the New York Public Library, I discovered an otherwise unrecorded exhibition catalogue (<http://cnx.org/content/m19783/latest/1914- nyse-catalogue.pdf>) of a printmaker's society named the New York Society of Etchers, documenting their rst exhibition in 1914. Not only was it a namesake, previously unknown to me, for the group that I founded in 1998, but it also was linked, through some of its membership, with the late-nineteenth- century New York Etching Club. One of the quiet thrills of working on the research leading to this volume has been the discovery of this series of links, through these overlapping memberships, leading back from today's New York Society of Etchers to that seminal organization, the New York Etching Club.

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revival of American etching was under way, with artist printmaking positioned to play an important role in the future of American art.

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Chapter 5

1877 Minutes of the New York Etching Club

¹

External Image

Please see:

5.1 1877 Events

• The American Society of Painters in Water Colors held its Tenth Annual Exhibition during February and early March at the National Academy of Design. Among some one hundred Works in Black and White listed in the show catalogue were etchings by Dr. Leroy M. Yale, a future president of the New York Etching Club, Seymour Haden, James McNeil Whistler, Flameng, and several others. There were many more additional works of graphic art in lead pencil, sepia, pen and ink, charcoal, and crayon exhibited alongside the etchings. James D. Smillie, the future founder of the New York Etching Club, was president of the American Society of Painters in Water Colors at the time of this exhibition.

• Publication of Peter Moran's 1876 Centennial Exhibition etchings, and their successful review at a National Academy of Design exhibition later in the year.

• Society of American Artists was founded in New York City.

5.2 Minutes of the rst regular monthly meeting of the New York Etching Club. held in the studio of James D. Smillie, 337 Fourth Ave. Monday eveng. Nov. 12th. 1877.

The President, Leroy M. Yale in the chair A quorum being present at 8.30 the meeting was called to order.

The Secretary pro tem, called the roll. Present, Messrs L.M. Yale., Chas. Miller., Louis C. Tiany., Henry C. Eno., Saml. Colman, A. F. Bellows, Fred. Dielman, Walter Shirlaw, Henry Farrer, A. H. Baldwin, Chas.

S. Reinhart, Laurence Johnson, and later in the eveng, James D. Smillie. In all, 13. The rst business being

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Committee with instructions to report at the next regular meeting. Carried. no further business being presented the meeting resolved itself into an informal exhibition of Etchings by members.

Mr. Henry Farrer presented 15 proofs

Figure 5.1: The property containing James D. Smillie's studio, 337 Fourth Avenue, continues to stand today at the southeast corner of 25th Street and Park Avenue South. Renovated and restored for commercial use, the building still features full-height artist studio windows and skylights facing north, easily visible from the sidewalks below.

Mr. Chas. Miller 5 pfs.

Henry C. Eno 2

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Jos. F. Sabine 8 L. M. Yale 6

Jas. D. Smillie 2 __23.

This was followed by a general interchange of criticism and information concerning practices & processes.

At 10.30, it being duly moved and seconded the meeting adjourned James D. Smillie, Secty

(Approved. Dec. 10th., 1877)

5.3 Minutes of a meeting of the Executive Committee of the N.

Y. Etching Club held in Jas. D. Smillie's studio, 337 Fourth Ave.

Saturday eveng. Dec. 8 1877.

At 8.20 Dr. L.M. Yale called the meeting to order. All the members of the committee were present, to wit;

L.M. Yale, R.S. Giord, H. C. Eno, A. H. Baldwin & James D. Smillie _ 5. The meeting being called to consider the matter of a constitution for the

Club that business was immediately taken up. Messrs Yale & Smillie having prepared a form it was read and discussed, section by section, and nally approved for presentation to the Second regular monthly meeting of the Club to be held on the following Monday eveng.

At 10 o'clk. It being regularly moved and seconded, the meeting was adjourned.

James D. Smillie Secty (Approved, Dec 10 1877)

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Figure 5.2: The rst etching created by the New York Etching Club. (From Etching in America;

private collection.)

5.4 Second regular monthly meeting of the N. Y. Etching Club, held in the studio of James D. Smillie, 337 Fourth Ave. Monday

evening Dec 10 1877

The President, L.M. Yale in the chair. At 8.30 a quorum being present, the meeting was called to order.

The Secty pro tem,

called the roll _ Present, Messrs Yale, Johnson, Sabin, Farrer, Giord, Abbey, Nicoll, Miller, Reinhart

& Baldwin. Later in the eveng. Smillie came _ 11.

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The minutes of preceding meetings were read and approved _ A form or draught of Constitution for the club was then reported from the Executive Committee. It was read, discussed, amended and approved section by section. A copy in its complete form is written out upon the pages near the end of this volume . After this business a general discussion concerning metals and mordants best suited to freehand etching, also, of printing processes, followed. Mr. Giord presented 1 pf. of etching

Farrer 2 ` Miller 1 ` Johnson 1 ` Sabin 3 `

Dr. Yale 1 Dry Point 9 pfs.

At 10 o'clk it being regularly moved & seconded, the meeting was adjourned.

James D. Smillie

Approved, Jany, 21st, 1878. Secty

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Chapter 6

1878 Minutes of the New York Etching Club

¹

External Image

Please see:

6.1 1878 Events

• The American Society of Painters in Water Colors held its Eleventh Annual Exhibition during February and early March at the National Academy of Design. The North-West Room featured some 120 Works in Black and White. Listed in the show catalogue were etchings exhibited by New York Etching Club members Henry Farrer, R. Swain Giord, Charles H. Miller, and Dr. Leroy M. Yale.

Additional etchings were shown by Seymour Haden, Emily Moran, Peter Moran, R. E. Piquet, James McNeil Whistler, and others. Works of graphic art in graphite pencil, India ink, charcoal, crayon and lithography were shown alongside these etchings.

• The Tile Club²was founded in New York. New York Etching Club members among the group included E.A. Abbey, William Merritt Chase, Frederick Dielman, R. Swain Giord, and C.S. Reinhart.

6.2 Third regular monthly meeting held in the studio of Jas. D.

Smillie 337 Fourth Ave. Monday eveng Jany 21st, '78.

The President, Leroy M. Yale in the chair. At 8.30 a quorum being present the meeting was called to order.

The Secty pro tem called

the roll. Present, Messrs Yale, Nicoll, Abbey, Bellows, Reinhart, Baldwin, Sabin, Farrer, Johnson, Eno and Wood, & later, Jas. D. Smillie, 12.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Mr. Henry Farrer presented a note from Mr. T.

C. Farrer of London, England, addressed to members of the New York Etching Club together with pfs. Of four etchings by Mr. T. C. F_ the note & proofs were accepted with thanks and the Secretary was directed to make a tting response.

Mr. C. S. Reinhart presented 2 pfs of etchings

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Fred Deilman 1 ` Jos. F. Sabin 1 ` Dr. L. M. Yale 3

8pf'. Dr. Hy C. Eno presented 1 proof of etching.

Dr. Laurence Johnson proposed for membership M. J. Burns & H. P. Share.

At 10.30, it being duly moved & recorded, the Pres'_ declared the meeting adjourned.

James D. Smillie Secty Approved April 8, 1878.

6.3 Fourth regular meeting N.Y. Etching Club. Jas. D. Smillie's studio Monday eveng. Feby 11th ., 1878.

A quorum not being present and there being no business to transact, the evening, until about 10 o'clk. was passed in general conversation

The Pres.' and the Secty were not present.

(It is due to the record of the Secty here to inscribe that during this season he was a member of the Council of the National Academy of Design, the meetings of which were held upon the same evenings as the Etching Club had selected for its meetings.)

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6.4 Fifth regular monthly meeting N.Y. Etching Club _ Jas. D.

Smillie's studio _ Monday eveng. March 1 1878.

Owing to the fault of the Secretary regular & formal notices of this meeting were not sent out. Only R. S.

Giord Walter Shirlaw, C. S. Reinhart, E. A Abbey and James D. Smillie 5- were present. It proved to be to those present a very enjoyable & informal meeting with general conversation on art matters until 11 o'clk, then, by common consent, adjourned.

6.5 Sixth regular monthly meeting, N. Y. Etching Club, in Jas. D.

Smillie's studio, Monday eveng Ap'. 8th., 1878.

Before the meeting of the club was called to order the Executive Committee held a short session, all being present, viz: Messrs Yale,

Eno, Baldwin, Giord and Smillie. They agreed to present to the Club, as candidates for membership, the names of M. J. Burns, H.P. Share and R.E.Piguet.

At 8.15 a quorum was present, the president called the meeting to order. The Secretary called the roll.

Present, Messrs Yale, Giord

Eno, Baldwin, Dielman, Abbey, Farrer, Sabin, Colman, Reinhart, Miller and Smillie_12. The minutes of the last meeting at which

there was a quorum (Jan 7, 21st., 1878) were read and approved. The meeting then proceeded to the election of new members. Mr. R. E. Piguet was unanimously elected. The names of Messrs Burns & Share after some discussion, at the suggestion of the Executive Committee, were laid over for future consideration.

By a vote, the Secty was then authorized to make enquiries as to the cost of printing a small number of copies of the constitution of the club, and to have not more than 100 copies printed if, upon the information obtained he thought it advisable. Mr. Colman presented 3 pfs. Of Etchings

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Figure 6.2: Samuel Colman. (Private collection.)

Mr. Farrer presented 6 pfs of Etchings Dr. Yale 1 ___' 10

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6.6 Seventh regular monthly meeting N.Y. Etching Club, held in Jas.

D. Smillie's studio _ Monday eveng. May 13th, 1878.

6.6.1 First Annual Meeting.

At 8.45 p.m. a quorum being present the Pres.' Dr. L. M. Yale called the meeting to order. The Secty called the roll. Present Messrs Yale, Baldwin, Robbins, Abbey, Miller, Reinhart, Johnson, Shirlaw, Farrer, Smillie, _ 10. The minutes were read and approved. The rst business was the election of ocers. The present incumbents were unanimously elected _ to wit; For President, L.M. Yale_ Sect. And Treas' _ Jas.

D. Smillie. Executive Committee, Messrs Eno, Baldwinand Giord. The subject of delinquents was then brought up and after a lengthy & general discussion it was moved & seconded that members who had not yet presented the two etching proofs required by Sect. 5. Art. II of Constitution be allowed until the second Monday in November following to make good their delinquency unanimously approved.

Mr. Baldwin presented 4 pfs. of etchings Eno 1 ` ___5.

At 10.15 on motion duly moved & seconded, the meeting adjourned.

James D. Smillie Secty Approved Dec 9 1878.

6.7 Eighth regular monthly meeting of the N. Y. Etching Club, held in Jas. D. Smillie studio Monday eveng. Dec 9 1878.

At 8.30 a quorum being present, the Pres', Dr. L. M. Yale, called the meeting to order. The Secty called the roll _ Present, messrs

Yale, Eno, Baldwin, Bellows, Reinhart Deilman, Wood and Smillie __ 8_ The minutes of the last meeting were Then read and approved.General business being in order, the matter concerning members who have not yet presented any proofs of etchings

according to the requirements of the Constitution, was discussed. There was evident general desire not to press any penalty, at the same time, the necessity of a prompt solution of the diculty was recognized by all. As upon previous occasions, the discussion

was long and wide. Finally, at the suggestion of the Pres.' It was unanimously agreed the Secty should be directed to write to delinquent members, enclosing a copy of Section 5 of Article II of the constitution.

Mr. Dielman proposed the names of Wm. M. Chase and F. S. Church as candidates for membership, Seconded by L. M. Yale and Chas. S. Reinhart.

Mr. Baldwin presented 5 pfs. of etchings Dr. Hy. Eno 2 ` ` `

J. D. Smillie 4 ___11.

At 10 o'clk. the meeting adjourned.

Approved, Jany. 13 1879. James D. Smillie Secty

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Chapter 7

1879 Minutes of the New York Etching Club

¹

External Image

Please see:

7.1 1879 Events

• The American Water Color Society held its Twelfth Annual Exhibition during February and early March at the National Academy of Design. The Black and White Room, as it was identied in the exhibition catalogue, featured some seventy-ve works of art. Etchings were shown by New York Etching Club members A. H. Baldwin, Frederick Dielman, Henry Farrer, Charles Henry Miller, R.

Swain Giord, James D. Smillie, George. H. Smillie, and future member J. M. Falconer. Additional works of graphic art from the Art Students League, F. Hopkinson Smith, Frederick S. Church, Robert Blum, and Winslow Homer were also displayed in the gallery.

• The founding in Boston of American Art Review by its editor, Mr. S. R. Koehler. Signicantly, each ensuing issue of the publication was illustrated with original etchingsmostly by members of the New York Etching Club. This unique publication inspired widespread public attention to the etching medium newly popular among American artists.

7.2 Ninth regular monthly meeting N. Y. Etching Club, held in J.

D. Smillie's studio monday evening _ Jany. 13 1879.

There was no quorum until after 9 o'clk. At that time a telegram was received from the Pres.' Dr. L. M.

Yale stating that he could not be present at the meeting. Mr. Saml. Colman was then requested to take the chair, and by him the meeting was called to order at 9.30. The Secty. Called the roll Present Messrs Colman, Bellows, Giord, Baldwin, Miller, Farrer, Dielman, Shirlaw and Jas. D. Smillie Later, Mr. T. W.

Wood came in. 10. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The election of members then being in order, messrs Farrer & Baldwin were appointed tellers. They declared as the result, the unanimous election of Wm. M. Chase & F. S. Church. The Secty then proposed the name of Geo. H. Smillie for

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Mr. Hy. Farrer presented pfs. of 13 etchings A. F. Bellows ` 3

J. D. Smillie 1 ____ 17 pfs of etchings

Several proofs of etchings by messrs Blum & Brennan were also shown by a member.

At 10.15, there being no further business and, being duly moved & seconded the meeting was adjourned.

James D. Smillie Secty Approved Feby. 10 1879.

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7.3 Tenth regular monthly meeting N. Y. Etching Club, held in Smil- lies Studio monday eveng. feby 10' 1879.

At 8.30 the meeting was called to order by the Pres.' Dr. L. M. Yale. The roll was called by the Secty.

Present messrs L. M. Yale, Baldwin, Tiany Farrer, Bellows Church Giord and Smillie_8_ The minutes were then read and approved. The rst regular

business was the election of members. Messrs Church & Baldwin were appointed tellers and after the balloting announced that Geo. H. Smillie was unanimously elected.

Dr. Yale presented 6 proofs of etchings Figure 7. Frederick S. French (Church?) Mr. Chas. Miller presented 3 pfs of etchings F. S. Church 2 `

L. C. Tiany 3 __ 14 pfs.

A proof of an etching by Mr. Blum after Fortuny, presented by a member, was much commented upon.

There was also a very informal discussion without result about an Etching Club excursion, to take place as soon as the weather should be suciently pleasant. The idea being that the plates should be taken & etched out of doors from nature.

The inconvenience of Monday evening for Club meetings was also discussed but no other evening could be agreed upon as any more convenient.

At 10 o'clk. the meeting was regularly adjourned.

James D. Smillie Secty Approved. May 12 1879.

7.4 Eleventh regular monthly meeting N. Y. Etching Club_ held in Jas. D. Smillie's studio, Monday eveng. March 10 1879.

But a few of the members were present not enough to form a quorum. There was no business to transact and after an evening

of conversations upon local art topics at about 10.30 the members adjourned.

7.5 Twelfth regular monthly meeting N.Y. Etching Club in Jas.D.

Smillie's studio Monday eveng. Ap.' 14 1879.

Another meeting without a quorum but the evening was apparently both pleasant & protable to those present as it was spent in experimental printing upon Mr. Smillie's press.

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Figure 7.2: George H. Smillie. (Private collection.)

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7.6 Thirteenth regular monthly meeting N. Y. Etching Club, held in Jas. D. Smillie's studio, Monday eveng. May 12th., 1879.

7.6.1 Second Annual Meeting.

At 9 o'clk. a quorum being present, the Pres'. Dr. L. M. Yale called the meeting to order. The Secty. Called the roll_ Present, messrs Yale, Reinhart, Colman, Tiany, Wood, G.H. Smillie, Farrer, Baldwin, Church, Dielman & J. D. Smillie _11 members. The minutes of the last meeting (Feb. 10.'79) were read and approved. The rst regular business of the eveng. Being the election of ocers for the ensuing year, tellers were appointed. A friendly discussion here took place between the Pres.' & Secty. The Pres.' Declined re-nomination or re-election, & nominated for the oce of Pres.', Jas. D. Smillie. The Secty declined that honor with thanks, & in addition begged to be relieved of his duties as Secty, apologizing to the club for his remissness during the past year. In the mean time the Pres.' Had been preparing and distributing ballots, the tellers collected them & the unanimous election of James D. Smillie to the Presidency was announced by the chair. At this time Mr. T. W. Wood made his appearance & by acclimation was elected Secty. Treas'.

He expressed his appreciation & thanks & promptly resigned. Ballots were prepared & Mr. J. C. Nicole not being present to defend himself was unanimously elected. Upon motion of Saml. Colman seconded by Hy.

Farrer, the Executive Com. In oce, messrs Giord, Eno & Baldwin were unanimously re-elected. By ballot, Messrs Chas. A. Vanderho and K. Van Elten were elected members. Mr. T. W. Wood then called upon the Secty. Treas'. For a statement of the expenses of the club. The Secty. Treas'. Said that there had been no expenses. To this it was replied that there certainly had been expenses for gas, postage, stationary_ etc.etc.

The Secty. Treas'. Said that he wished such outlay considered as his willing contribution to the cause of Free Hand Etching. The members present were unwilling to agree to such arrangement & after consultation

& computation a bill of expenses was prepared & accepted by the Secty. Treas'. That will be found in the Treas.'rs statement appended. Mr. T. W. Wood moved (& it was seconded) that an assessment of $1.00 per member be made. Mr. S. Colman moved, as an amendment, that it be made an annual assessment.

Mr. Wood accepted the amendment & the motion as amended was carried without opposition. Mr. C. S.

Reinhart showed a working proof from an etching. Pfs. from 3 etchings by Mr. Vanderho & by Kruseman Van Elten were also shown.

At 10.30 the meeting was regularly adjourned.

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Figure 7.3: John H. Twachtman, Winter Avondale, 1879. (Williams Print Collection.)

Approved, Dec 8' 1879.

James D. Smillie

Money received by Jas. D. Smillie, Treasure.

From T. W. Wood . . . . $2.00) money distributed as p'_accepted bill.

L. M. Yale 2.00) To Postage 3.50 Hy Farrer 2.00) Gas 2.25

F. Dielman 2.00) Old members Beer 2.50 Chas Reinhart 2.00) Book for minutes 85 Stationary 1.00 10.10

S. Colman 2.00)

J. D. Smillie 2.00) 5.90 Bal.On hand Chas Vanderho 1.00} new members

Kruseman Van Elten 1.00 James D. Smillie Treas'.

======= 16.00

It is probable, based on careful study of the original handwritten copy of the minutes, that James D. Smillie recorded the rst twenty-three pages of the club meetings elsewhere and re-wrote them sometime between February and December 1879 in the extant copy. His presentation and the consistency of these earliest minutes is nearly awless. Supporting this

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7.7 December 8th 1879.

The monthly meeting was held at this date in the President's studio

The meeting was called to order at halfpast eight P.M. by the President with fourteen members present.

The minutes of the last annual meeting were read and approved.

Mr. Edwin Forbes was proposed for membership by Messers Church, Baldwin and Giord.

Etchings were exhibited of follows viz:

11 by Mr. Farrer 4 Church 3 Colman 5 ` Nicoll 1 Sabin 5 Deilman

Upon motion by Mr. Giord duly seconded & carried Mr. Shirlaw was appointed as committee to urge upon delinquent members the necessity of attending to their duties.

Mr. Church mentioned that Messers Scribnir & Co were desirous of publishing an article upon the Etching Club. it's members to furnish illustrations, and the publishers the written portion.

It was afterwards resolved, upon motion duly made & seconded, that the President appoint a committee of two to arrange with Messers Scribner & Co for the publication of such article. Messrs Church and Giord were appointed.²

Upon motion of Mr. Giord, seconded by Mr. Shirlaw, it was resolved that Mr. Bellows and the President be appointed a committee to examine into the feasibility of holding an exhibition of Etchings in the National Academy of Design and report to the Executive Committee who shall have full power to arrange with the American Water Color Society for holding such exhibition if deemed desirable.

No other business being presented the meeting adjourned at halfpast ten.

Approved Jany 12/80 J. C. Nicoll

Sect.

2No article about the New York Etching Club appeared in any issue of Scribner's Magazine published during 1880 or 1881.

The June 1880 issue's The Art Season column contains review notes of the American Watercolor Society exhibition but does not mention the club by name. Several New York Etching Club members exhibited etchings during at this annual event but only Henry Farrer's prints are mentioned in the review. Interestingly, the April 1880 issue of Scribner's Monthly contained an article entitled Growth of Woodcut. The magazine published articles shortly thereafter on the recently founded Tile Club and the Salmagundi Sketch Club. In August 1879, Scribner's published a substantial piece entitled Whistler in Painting and Etching that included reproductions of several of his etchings.

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