Society of Mezzotint Engravers

A Mezzotint is a printmaking process that was 'invented' in Germany in the mid-17th century by Ludwig von Siegen (1609–c.1680) the earliest known prints dating from 1642. It is a time-consuming and immensely demanding process, in which a plate is prepared with a hard steel and chisel-shaped tool called a rocker. A blade is fixed into the handle and rocked from side to side until the plate is completely covered in zigzag indentations in perhaps as many as 80 different directions. The polished surface is then cut away to various depths with a mezzotint scraper. The more the texture is scraped away in any area, the less ink will be held on the plate and the lighter in tone the printed result will become. For all its laboriousness, this process is capable of producing tones of immense subtlety and richness, up to a deep, velvety black. The name is derived from the Italian mezzo-tinto meaning 'half-tone' or 'half-painted.'

The Society was formed in 1898 by George Lambert Washington. The sole aim of the Society was to foster the art of the Mezzotinter. It is believed that the Society comprised not only engravers but collectors and connoisseurs. Gerald Philip Robinson was the first President and he was also Mezzotint Engraver to Queen Victoria and to King Edward VII. Other members included critic R. S. Coulston, Frank Short, Norman Hirst, Joseph Bishop Pratt, Seymour Haden and John Finnie. Although never members of the Society, there were and still are many fine practitioners of this difficult and comparatively obscure art form. These include Joseph Pennell, Luke Taylor, Eugène James Tily, Lawrence Josset, Robert Weir Allan, James Aumonier, Mark Balakjian, Arthur Cox, Daphne Reynolds and many more.