Massachusetts College of Art and Design - Palette and Pen Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 15 text:

POCHOIR T I H£ process of stencil printing has been known for ages. Theodoric,king of the Ostrogoths, and Charlemagne both used it to make their signatures. In the 14 century playing cards were colored by pochoirs and today it is becoming a popular and inexpensive way of illustrating — especially in France. The accompanying design was printed with seven pochoirs, which is very few compared with some of the French work. One illustration is known to have had eighty stencils used upon it. This, h owever will suffice to illustrate the process. The design was first drawn and colored. Then a line cut was made from an ink tracing of the drawing. From this line cut as many proofs were taken as there were colors in the original. The proofs were made on onion skin paper, but any tracing or thin paper will do. The proofs are stuck to a thin sheet of brass with rubber cement, each proof being colored with one tint. The colored section is then carefully cut out and the pochoir is finished. The stencils, of course, are requisite, but so much depends on the color too! It must be handled with a meticulous touch. Either water color or tempera may be used, depending on the effect desired. The most delicate water color can be so accurately reproduced that it is quite difficult to tell the original from the reproduction. Therefore, the pochoir craftsman must be artist as well as artisan.

Page 14 text:

FOUR SIDES TO A HOUSE SELECTED FROM AMY LOWELL Over the lilacs, gazing down, Is a window, Peter. The North winds call, and the South winds cry. Silver white hair in a bitter blowing. Eel-green water washing by, A red mouth floating and flowing. Do you come, Peter? They rose as the last star sank and set. One more for Peter. They slew the black mare at the flush of the sun. And nailed her skull to the window-stone. In the light of the moon how white it shone — And your breathing mouth, Peter! The sun goes down, and the night draws in. Toward the hills, Peter. What lies so stiff on the hill-room floor, When the gusty wind claps to the door? They have paid three horses and two men more. Gather your gold, Peter.

Page 16 text:

NEW TENDENCIES IN ART A L JL few gifted people are beginning to see the possibilities and beauty of abstract design as a decorative element; but until at least a part of the public overcomes its lack of fair-mindedness and understanding, we can- not hope for a great deal of progress. We will have to realize that this is the beginning of an art that gives to a thing the part that endures. Modern painters are not trying to imitate form, but to create form. They have tried to get back to something fundamental. They want to express what we feel of life instinctively, and express that feeling intellectually, and in as abstract a manner as possible. It is really quite logical to see that this tendency had to come. For a long time imitation seemed to be the business of art. All effort was spent on technique, and the result had to be beautiful — a sensuous pleasure rather than an intellectual one! In reality this “new” expression is only the evolution of the old expression. Instead of Beauty or Religion, Science is the motive to-day, and the modern movement reflects this characteristic intellectual and analytical attitude of mind; and we must judge it without reference to previous standards. But the long schooling we have had in perfecting and looking for really superficial details, such as technique, has made us neglect the real value. This new movement is denying the value of the obvious that was placed upon art in former time. The aesthetic sense and the imagination are asked to work and that is what causes the great shock. We expect to find things unchanged and if there is a difference, something new, we are at a loss, for imagination has been lulled to sleep and we fail to get the meaning. « 10 »