About the Artist
Zevi Blum Artwork Book
(click on image to see and purchase)
Introduction to the Art of Zevi Blum
Zevi Blum works in a number of media, including pen and ink, watercolor and etching. Since the early 1960s, he has increasingly focused on etching, and, in the mid 1980’s, developed techniques for using watercolors with the etchings.
Biography
Zevi Blum was born in Paris, France in 1933. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University in 1957 and worked as a licensed architect in New York City for a number of years following graduation. Zevi’s true passion had always been art, and starting in the late 1960s, he became a full time artist working primarily with pen and ink and watercolors. During this period he showed at a number of galleries, including The Farr and Contemporaries Galleries in New York.
In 1970, Zevi moved to Ithaca, NY, to pursue his career in a less urban environment. During this period, he continued to work as an artist as well as a drawing instructor at Ithaca College. Along with his art, teaching became an important part of his life. He continued to his work and became a Distinguished Professor of Fine Art at Cornell University, where he taught drawing to generations of future architects at the Cornell Architecture School as well as fine arts majors for over 30 years. During this period his work shifted focus to etchings and water colored etchings, which were shown in numerous exhibitions and galleries throughout the United States and in Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland. He also created a number of designs for pieces by Steuben glass, which included a goblet given by President Carter to the Pope John Paul I and a crystal ship given by President Reagan to Prince Charles and Lady Diana on their wedding.
Zevi became an Professor Emeritus in 2002 and retired to California to be close to his children and grand children. While in California, he continued to create art and refine his technique for water coloring etchings. Zevi worked on his art until his very last day when he passed away in 2011.
Technique
Etching techniques were developed from engraving. Engraving is the process cutting shallow grooves into the surface of a material, and dates to the beginning of the 1st Millennium B.C. During the Middle Ages, goldsmiths used engraving to decorate and inscribe metalwork, and subsequently made print impressions of the designs for records. Starting around 1430 in Germany, artists made copper plates to produce artistic images on paper, which are known as “old master prints.” Italy soon followed. These techniques included the use of acid to etch the engravings. The first and greatest period of the engraving was from about 1470 to 1530, with such masters as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, and Lucas van Leiden. Zevi continues this tradition in both his technique and the styles and themes he pursues.
The etching technique employed by Mr. Blum uses a zinc metal plate which is covered with a thin wax-based coating called a “ground.” The ground, which is resistant to acid, is then “smoked” with candles to produce a dark coating of carbon which allows him to see the surface of the ground. He then scratches the ground with an etching stylus, which looks like a pen with a needle in place of a nib, to create an image by exposing the bare metal beneath the ground. This initial image exists only in the delicate ground surface. A challenging aspect of the technique is that the ground, and thus the image, will melt and smudge if exposed to prolonged contact with a hand or arm. As a result, because Zevi is left handed, the images are generally drawn in one pass from the upper right corner to the lower left corner, with limited opportunity to re-work areas of the plate where he has previously created an image.
After the image is complete, the plate is placed in a bath of nitric acid, technically called the “mordant” (French for “biting”). The acid dissolves the metal on the surface of the plate where the ground has been removed and the plate exposed, engraving the image into the plate. During the biting process, a paint brush is used to remove bubbles and detritus generated by the chemical reaction. If bubbles or detritus are allowed to remain on the plate, they will interfere with an even biting process. The detritus of powdery dissolved metal fills the etched grooves and can also block the acid from biting evenly into the exposed plate surface.
The plate is removed from the acid bath and washed with water to terminate the chemical reaction. The ground is then removed with a solvent such as turpentine. Turpentine is removed from the plate using methylated spirits. The edges of the plate are then hand filed to an even, 45 degree bevel to create a border and prevent the previously sharp edge from cutting the paper during printing.
Determining how long to leave the plate in the acid, and thus the depth of the bite, is an integral part of the artistic process. The deeper the bite, the darker the resulting image when the plate is printed. Controlling the depth of the bite is a major challenge that can be effected by the age and strength of the acid solution and environmental variables such as temperature. Faux-bite or "over-biting" is common problem in etching caused by acid leaking through the ground to create pitting and burning on the surface.
Another challenge of the technique is that the line weight and speed cannot be varied because the etching needle, ground and bite are uniform across the entire plate and process. As a result, the only way to create darker images is to increase the density of lines using techniques such as crosshatching, or to re-etch the plate. A second, or even a third bite, requires repetition of the entire process, including application of the ground and rebiting the plate. This creates the risk that the subsequent bite will fail, or be either too deep or shallow to match the first. Such problems have resulted in the loss of etchings in the past.
To print the plate, various etching inks are combined to produce the desired color and consistency for the paper and image. The cleaned plate is warmed on a heating table to soften the ink. A combination of matte board and plastic cards are used to apply the ink to the plate. A hand-held dippling tool is used to further distribute the ink to particularly intricate areas of the engraving. The surface is then hand wiped with a piece of stiff fabric known as tarlatan and then a soft cotton cloth. This wiping leaves ink in the incisions of the plate and a small amount on the surface of the plate which produces the tone of the background.
A sheet of specially made paper, often containing both cotton and wood fibers, is used in the printing. Different papers provide slightly different printing effects such as background tone and color. The paper is soaked, generally overnight, prior to the printing to make the fibers soft and more absorbent.
The inked plate is placed face up on the bed of a hand cranked printing press. A sheet of the soaked paper, which has been dried to remove any surface water, is then laid on top of the plate. A series of etching blankets are placed on top of the paper and the ensemble is then rolled through the press. The blankets are removed and the paper, which has been imprinted with the reverse image from the plate, is lifted from the plate. These wet prints are then carefully dried over a period of days to prevent buckling and smudging.
After the printing, the paper has been embossed with the image. The paper fibers, softened by soaking and compressed by the press, are forced into the engraved incisions in the plate where they absorb the ink in the incisions. The slightly raised lines of ink can be felt if one runs a finger over the surface of the print. Additionally, there is an impressed bevel from the edge of the plate. A quality print requires a number of factors to come together in the printing process, including the correct mixture of inks and paper, paper, moisture, inking, wiping, and printing. Common flaws in etching include over-wiping which removes too much ink, uneven tone of the surface of the plate which has not been etched, minute foreign objects embossed into the paper, and incomplete or uneven transfer of ink from the engraved lines.
The etchings are printed in additions of up to 100, although the actual production is usually much lower because of the time and labor required to make each print. Beginning in the 1990’s, Zevi developed techniques to water color the prints. Each water colored print is an original, and the number of water colors of any given print is limited to an addition of five. Again, the actual production is typically much lower because of the amount of time and labor required to watercolor each print. In 2009, Zevi began work with a master printer to develop Giclee prints of water colored etchings. These museum quality prints are also printed on etching paper in limited editions.
Curriculum Vitae
1933 Born, Paris, France
1957 Bachelor of Architecture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1957-58 Associate Architect, Raymond Lowey, Inc., New York, NY
1957-59 Associate Architect, Davis Brody Associates, New York, NY
1964 Architecture License, New York State
1970-71 Instructor, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
1971-74 Visiting Critic, College of Arts, Architecture and Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1974-2002 Professor of Fine Arts,, College of Arts, Architecture and Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
2002- 2011 Professor Emeritus, College of Arts, Architecture and Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Selected Collections
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
The Vatican, Vatican City
Johnson Museum, Ithaca, NY
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gensler
Solo Exhibitions
Dorian Hunter Gallery, Fullerton, CA 1966
The Contemporaries, New York, NY 1966
Ithaca College Museum of Art, 1969
FAR Gallery, New York, NY 1971
Cortland State College, Cortland, NY 1971
FAR Gallery, New York, NY 1972
Achim Moeller LTD., London, England, 1972
Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington, DC 1972
Hartley Gallery, New York, NY 1973
The Contemporaries Gallery, New York, NY 1976
Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington, DC 1978
Portsmouth Gallery, Portsmouth, NH 1983
Hanover Square Gallery, Syracuse, NY 1983
Il Bisonte Galleria, Florence, Italy 1988
San Juan Conservation Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico 1993
Parnas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1995
Pucker Gallery Boston, MA
Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY
Group Exhibitions
Philadelphia Watercolor Society, Philadelphia, PA 1967
Baltimore Museum, Baltimore, MD 1967
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC 1967
Obelisk Gallery, Boston, MA 1968
Kent State Invitational Show, Kent, OH 1971
Drawings USA/1971, Minnesota Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, 1971
Art of the Times, Louvre Museum, Paris, France, 1973
Unordinary Realities, Rochester, NY 1975
Society of Illustrators, 200 Years of American Illustrating, New York NY 1975
Historical Society 1976
Printmakers West, 1976
Collectors Choice, Sheldon Swope Art Gallery, 1977
Galerie de Rhaun, Nyon, Switzerland, 1977
Galerie Ilse Scheinsteiger, Munich, Germany 1978
Society of Illustrators, 1983
Hanover Squire Gallery, Syracuse, NY 1985
Achim Moeller LTD., New York, NY, 1985
Achim Moeller LTD., New York, NY, 1987
Jane Haslem Gallery, Washington, DC 1989
Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY 1990
Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY 1993
San Juan Conservation Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico 1994
Olga Dollar Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca, NY 200
Selected Publications
Antioch Review
Art of Giving
Art of Stuben
Atlantic Monthly
Columbia Forum
Franklin Library
Harpers
Horizon, Spring 1971, Spring 1975
Intellectual Digest
Lithopinoion, Spring 1970
New York Times Book Review
New York Times Op Ed
Pantheon
Print, January/February 1973
Readers Digest
Monographs and Books
Zevi Blum: Etchings. Monograph of works by Jonathan Blum, https://www.blurb.com/b/1143092-zevi-blum-etchings
The Brothers Schlemiel, By Mark Binder, DJ Books, 2008.
When I Did Not Die , Poems by Judith Levey-Kurlander, Olive Branch Press, 2001.
Little Known Unknown Birds of the World. By J. Kevin McMahon,
Oscar Wilde: Stories and Fairy Tales. Franklin Library, 1983.
The Illustrated Fanny Hill. By John Cleland, New York: The Erotic Art Book Society, 1978..
The God Beneath the Sea. By Leon Garfield. Random House, 1971.
The Wise Men of Chelm. By Samuel Tenenbaum. Thomas Yoseloff, 1969.
Gallery Notes from reviews of his work.
His breathtaking etchings take the viewer into another world. A world of fancy from some other time. His technique is painstakingly precise and every little line of detail is given equal attention. It is truly remarkable to see his prints up close and imagine the work involved in executing such a beautifully meticulous piece.
"My work remarks on the tradition of Swift & Hogarth. My admiration is in the tradition of Oscar Wilde. My filter is architecture.”
Art history has not been kind to satirists. Where some, like Hogarth or Daumier, have been granted the status of "masters," the attribution has been grudging at best. The exalted status of artists like Brueghel or Goya, on the other hand, seems to have been established largely outside the satiric content of their work. Several obvious facts may account for this. Satire by its nature tends to be topical. It is difficult to ascribe it an enduring value, and satire becomes inaccessible as the historical referents are forgotten. We still enjoy the fantastic characters which inhabit Hieronymus Bosch's paintings, but the satiric import of these works is all but lost on the modern viewer. Effective satire must also maintain a fragile emotional distance from its subject. If this distance is lost, the genre easily degenerates into pathos, on the one hand, or caricature, on the other. Besieged as we are by images of the bizarre and the unnatural and lacking any discernible standards of taste or decorum, we must wonder if satire as an artistic genre is even possible today.
Clearly Zevi Blum believes it is. Blum's compositions present us a delightful panoply of characters. Fat prelates plot, warriors posture, and lavishly dressed courtiers and coquettes preen. Their attire ranges from the armor of the medieval knight to the latest fashions at the court of the Sun King. They belong to no age and to every age. They are both fanciful anachronisms and universals in the comedie humaine
STEUBEN SHEPHERD’S CUP. Beautiful Steuben cup was designed in 1976 with the engraving designed by Zevi Blum and glass designed by Peter Yenawine depicts three shepherds standing on a hillside looking to the sky. Cup gives the effect of the star of Bethlehem standing out against many other stars. Pictured on pg. 276 of the new Madigan book "Steuben Glass: An American Tradition in Crystal"