What is a Mezzotint?

An engraving technique capable of producing very fine gradations of tones; its name derives from the Italian mezzo meaning middle. Using a special tool called a rocker, a metal instrument with serrated half-moon edge, the printmaker roughens the entire surface of a soft metal (copper) plate. Were the plate printed at this stage, ink would cling evenly to the surface and print completely black. Working from dark to light, the artist uses a burnisher to smooth out areas of the plate. Areas burnished smooth hold no ink. The artist can achieve a range of tones by varying the smoothness or roughness of the metal surface. This extremely demanding medium is rarely used today. McPherson hand rocks all of his plates, and, in most cases, prints the editions himself.

Image #1 - Mezzotint tools clockwise from top left: rocker, scraper, burnisher, roulette.

Image #2 - A partially rocked copper plate.

Craig McPherson was honored with a retrospective of his mezzotint engravings in 1998 at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University, England. The exhibition, Darkness into Light: Craig McPherson and the Art of Mezzotint, was accompanied by an 80-page illustrated catalogue of his work, including a detailed technical analysis of each major print. The exhibition traveled to The Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, and was shown at the Mary Ryan Gallery in New York.

McPherson’s mezzotint engravings have been referenced or reproduced in books and exhibition catalogues including Darkness into Light: Craig McPherson and the Art of Mezzotint; From Goya to Johns: Fifty Prints from the McNay Art Museum; The Mezzotint: History and Technique; Impressions of New York: Prints from the New York Historical Society; Born of Fire: The Valley of Work; Subway Series; Steel/Stage; Steel; and periodicals such as The Financial Times, Harper’s magazine, Artnews, Print Quarterly, The Print Collectors Newsletter, The Plain Dealer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Spectator.

Art historians and curators have published the following statements about McPherson’s work in this demanding medium.

Hartley, Craig and Duncan Robinson. Darkness into Light: Craig McPherson and the Art of Mezzotint, 80-page illustrated exhibition catalogue, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1998

p. 7 "The (mezzotint) medium has been relatively little used in the twentieth century, and nobody has exploited its potential for capturing the atmosphere of a modern city illuminated at night so successfully as Craig McPherson. Earlier twentieth century printmakers, notably Martin Lewis (1881-1962) realized the poetry of a New York night saturated in shadows and swathed in luminous tone. But Lewis was working in a medium (drypoint, sometimes over a sandpaper ground) that involved him hatching the shadows – drawing the darkness – whereas in mezzotint McPherson is almost literally sculpting with light.

McPherson's mezzotints depend on the artist’s ability to control light effects, to harness the enigmatic poetry of ‘night and light and the half-light.’ This meticulous control is exercised mainly through the work on copper, the printing of the plate, and the choice of inks and papers, but it extends to the entire process of production: McPherson not only rocks his own plates, burnishes his own plates, and proofs his own plates, but in most cases he also prints the entire edition and publishes it himself."

Williams, Lyle W. "From Goya to Johns: Fifty Master Prints from the McNay Art Museum," illustrated exhibition book published by The Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, 2004

p. 82 Regarding, Yankee Stadium at Night (1983): "This mezzotint is one of the most important prints produced in the 1980"s. McPherson’s image of Yankee Stadium in the distance at night is haunting. Instead of feeling the excitement of being at a game with a crowd of people, the viewer here feels detached and alone. The only suggestion of human activity visible from this viewpoint is the steam rising and the lights shining out of the top of the stadium. A vast expanse of darkness separates us from them, an abyss filled with empty office buildings and a distant freeway leading away. McPherson seems to be continuing the tradition of Hopper, presenting loneliness and detachment as the true American existence.

The plate took longer than a year to produce and is a formidable technical achievement."

Symmes, Marilyn. "Impressions of New York: Prints from the New York Historical Society," exhibition catalogue published by The New York Historical Society, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, NY, 2004

p. 258 "The biggest challenge for print artists is printing black tones to evoke the nuances of night and shadows. Craig McPherson – a contemporary painter who is also a master at printing a spectrum of blacks – works in mezzotint because it is the best printmaking technique to achieve a range of light tones and soft half-darks. A native of Kansas, McPherson came to New York City in 1975; shortly thereafter, he taught himself the exacting mezzotint technique by creating reproductive plates of flowers. His trilogy of grand night cityscapes includes his most famous mezzotint, Yankee Stadium at Night (1983), featuring the atmospheric glow of the stadium's lights: Girders (1986), a panoramic vista from the artist’s former Washington Heights studio; and this print, of FDR Drive.

This tour-de-force of mezzotint printmaking evokes a rainy night. McPherson’s remarkable observations and technical skill captured the light reflecting off the wet pavement (cleverly contrasted with reflections on the surface of the East River) as well as rain caught in the glow of the streetlights."

Jones, Barbara L."Born of Fire: The Valley of Work," exhibition book, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA, distributed by Pittsburgh University Press, 2006

p. 128 Regarding Clairton , 1997, "The work is not intended as a literal description of a place, rather, it is a more romantic notion that merely suggests the grit of industry, providing an overall sense of drama and power from a distance." "According to the artist, his work celebrates 'the last vestiges of the great Rust Belt and the heroic American experience that built this country.'"