Bubbles
Print
1887 (first published)
1887 (first published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
These progress proofs were taken from six blocks – a key block and five colour – to build up a complex image. Edmund Evans (1826–1905) was considered the finest colour printer in London. He had a workshop employing about 30 people but maintained strict control over the process, determining the tones and colours himself. By this later period, he had progressed to using six colour blocks: dark brown, a flesh tint for faces and hands, red, blue, yellow and grey. A registration frame ensured that each block printed in the same place on the page so that the constituent colours of the design matched up.
Kate Greenaway (1846–1901) made the design drawing (also in the V&A), which was reproduced onto each block using a photographic method developed by Thomas Bolton in the mid-1860s, which involved coloured filters to allow separation of the individual colours. These were then translated by engravers as lines, hatchings, or dots or dashes. Greenaway allowed no one other than Evans to engrave her illustrations.
Kate Greenaway (1846–1901) made the design drawing (also in the V&A), which was reproduced onto each block using a photographic method developed by Thomas Bolton in the mid-1860s, which involved coloured filters to allow separation of the individual colours. These were then translated by engravers as lines, hatchings, or dots or dashes. Greenaway allowed no one other than Evans to engrave her illustrations.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Bubbles (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Wood engraving |
| Brief description | Wood-engraving. Engraved and published by Edmund Evans Ltd. after a drawing by Kate Greenaway. 'Bubbles', 1887. One of 11 proofs showing different stages in the printing colour. |
| Physical description | Print, 'Bubbles'; wood-engraving proof depicting two girls blowing bubbles. One of 11 engravings showing different impressions from the wood-blocks and different stages in the printmaking process. Two girls play beside some steps leading up into a garden with grass, border flowers and apple tree. One of the girls sits on a wall holding a bowl while the other holds a device used to blow bubbles. They watch a bubble floating between them. The girls are wearing white muslin dresses with sashes and bonnets. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Production type | Proof |
| Credit line | Given by Mr. E. Wilfred Evans. |
| Object history | "Bubbles" was originally drawn as a colour illustration for the 1887 publication "Rhymes for the young folk" written by William Allingham and illustrated by Kate Greenaway, Helen Allingham, Harry Furniss and Caroline Patterson. |
| Production | Set of blocks and registration frame for printing in colour at E.1373-379-1936, and a set of progress proofs at E.1380-1390-1936. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | These progress proofs were taken from six blocks – a key block and five colour – to build up a complex image. Edmund Evans (1826–1905) was considered the finest colour printer in London. He had a workshop employing about 30 people but maintained strict control over the process, determining the tones and colours himself. By this later period, he had progressed to using six colour blocks: dark brown, a flesh tint for faces and hands, red, blue, yellow and grey. A registration frame ensured that each block printed in the same place on the page so that the constituent colours of the design matched up. Kate Greenaway (1846–1901) made the design drawing (also in the V&A), which was reproduced onto each block using a photographic method developed by Thomas Bolton in the mid-1860s, which involved coloured filters to allow separation of the individual colours. These were then translated by engravers as lines, hatchings, or dots or dashes. Greenaway allowed no one other than Evans to engrave her illustrations. |
| Associated objects |
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| Bibliographic reference | Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1936, London: Board of Education, 1937. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1383-1936 |
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| Record created | December 8, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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