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A portfolio of ten photogravures by Philip Van Keuren, with title page and colophon printed in letterpress. Housed in a silver-gray clamshell box, beautifully hand-crafted crafted by Cloverleaf Studio, with title stamped on the front cover in black ink. The photogravures are printed in editions of 12, with five complete sets reserved to be sold as portfolios. The prints, colophon and title pages are printed in black ink on Hahnemuhle Copperplate paper. Portfolio dimensions: 19 x 14 3/4 x 1 inches.
Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking process wherein a copper plate is coated with a dichromated (UV-sensitized) gelatin tissue which has been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high-quality intaglio print that can reproduce the detail and continuous tones of a photograph. Photogravure was developed in the 1870’s and became one of the first widely used techniques for reproducing photographic imagery. Photogravure is considered to be truly photographic because the image is realized in continuous tones. This distinguishes it from the photo-mechanical process used in photo-lithography, photo-etching and photo-silkscreen, which utilizes a half-tone screen to break up the image into dots of white or black that blend visually to simulate a photographic appearance. The photogravure print is printed on paper from the etched copper plate that has been inked and wiped as a regular intaglio plate.
Photographers of the Photo-Secession and Pictorialist movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries prized photogravure for its ability to render a wide tonal range, soft tones and details. The technique later fell into disuse as most photographers utilized the convenient and high-quality silver gelatin papers to print their images. An interesting consequence of the rise of digital photography is renewed interest in some of the early techniques of photography. Because of this photogravure has been enjoying something of a renaissance in recent years.
