Picture Nation: Commercial Wood Engraving in Nineteenth-Century America

FAIN: FT-53634-05

Stephen P. Rice
Ramapo College of New Jersey (Mahwah, NJ 07430-1623)

“Picture Nation” will trace the rise and fall of commercial wood engraving in America from the 1820’s, when artisans trained in the craft were first able to make a living by producing illustrations for books and magazines, through the 1890’s, when publishers began to favor “half-tone” images that were easily and inexpensively made using a new photographic process. The study will join art historical questions about subject, style, artistic achievement, and critical reception with social historical questions about work, commerce, and industrial change.