Chelsea Children, Chelsea Embankment 1889

Theodore Roussel made this print, Chelsea Children, Chelsea Embankment, using etching, a traditional intaglio printmaking method. The artist covers a metal plate with a waxy, acid-resistant ground. Roussel then draws through the ground with a sharp needle, exposing the metal. The plate is then submerged in acid, which bites into the exposed lines, creating recessed marks. Ink is applied to the plate, filling these lines. The surface is wiped clean, and the image is transferred to paper under high pressure using a printing press. This process is repeated for each print. The final appearance, its soft, blurry quality, comes from the way the acid interacts with the metal. The image is not just ‘of’ something, it is indexical, a direct result of a chemical process. The artist is reliant on the material to render the design. This is the essence of craft, to work within limitations. Processes such as etching belong to histories of creative practices and aesthetics alongside fine art. We shouldn't see etching as just a reproductive method, but instead as an artistic medium in its own right.