About this artwork
A photogravure, also called a heliogravure, is made using a copper plate with a roughened surface which has been coated with a light-sensitive gelatine tissue. The plate is exposed to a film transparency (the photographic image) and etched. Eugene was a painter and a photographer. He developed his own distinctive style of photogravure, hand-working his photographic negatives with brushstrokes, shading and scratching. Here, he has used semi-transparent Japanese paper so that the lighter backing paper can shine through. In the 1890s Eugene worked in New York on stage designs for the play of Rip Van Winkle, which starred the actor Joseph Jefferson (1829–1905). The boy in this image is likely to be the actor’s son. This photogravure appeared in the influential quarterly photographic journal, Camera Work, published by Alfred Stieglitz.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Frank Eugene (1865 - 1936) American
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title:Tasse Tee, Master Frank Jefferson
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date created:1898 - 1900; published 1910
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materials:Photogravure
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measurements:17.40 x 12.60 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 2008
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accession number:PGP 421.1
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
Frank Eugene
Frank Eugene
Frank Eugene was born, and originally worked in New York. He was recognised as an accomplished stage designer and painter before he emerged as a photographer, although he continued to combine strands of design in his photographic work. He moved to Germany in 1906, where he became a lecturer on...
