Cliché-verre

Historical context

Cliché-verre ("glass negative") is a hand-drawn negative that is contact printed onto light-sensitive paper. Wikipedia's account says an Arras group (the artist Constant Dutilleux, the photographer Adalbert Cuvelier and the drawing teacher L. Grandguillaume) devised a method using printer's ink on a plate coated with white lead powder, laid over black cloth. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot learned the process in 1853 and made about 65 images over the next twenty years. Barbizon artists including Millet, Rousseau and Daubigny followed. The Victoria and Albert Museum dates a Corot print on albumen paper to 1854; another catalogue label dates it to 1864, so sources conflict.

Modernists returned to it: the same article lists Paul Klee (1902), Man Ray (1917), Max Ernst (1931) and Brassai in the 1930s, with a revival in the 1970s that introduced frosted Mylar, felt-tip on film and sand on glass. The sources conflict on origins (Wikipedia's account of the process mentions Talbot in 1834, while museum sources centre on the 1850s French work), so we give no inventor or year.

What it is and how it differs

• A drawing becomes a negative. You block light with an opaque ground or draw tone on a clear base. No camera and no enlarger are needed.
• Scratching through gives dark lines. Where the ground is removed light passes, so scratched lines print dark on paper. Reversal of tones is the main thing to remember (Wikipedia; Godman).
• Related to the photogram. Godman treats it as part of the camera-less family; see photogram.
• Not tied to one paper. The V&A's Corot print is on albumen paper, and historical exposures were made in sunlight (V&A; Godman). Godman's own prints were made on photographic paper and processed in the normal way.

Materials and chemistry

No recipe is needed, so we give no quantities.

The Arras method used white lead powder (Wikipedia). We do not recommend lead pigments; use an inert white powder or skip the dusting.

For printing you need light-sensitive paper and its normal developer and fixer, or salt or cyanotype paper for sun printing. See salt printing and cyanotype.

Choosing a ground

Each ground gives a different line and tone, and the sources describe them only in outline.

• Soot. The V&A describes a design scratched into smoked glass: the soot that remains blocks light, so the scratched lines appear as black lines on the paper. It is quick and delicate, but the soot surface is easily marked.
• Ink or paint. Ink or paint over glass, scratched away to leave clear glass where black should appear, is the usual method (Wikipedia). Building ink in layers lets you vary density.
• Etching tools. Daubigny began in 1862 with 17 plates and combined etching techniques such as the roulette with brushwork (Wikipedia). Any pointed tool will do for a first try.
• Drawn directly. On film or acetate you can draw the dark parts instead of scratching them, which prints the opposite way round from a scratched ground. Godman lists pens, paint, glue stick and litho crayon as marks on film.

Test each ground on a scrap of glass before committing time to a drawing.

Procedure

1. Choose the base. Glass, acetate, lith film and Mylar all work (Godman). Sand sharp glass edges before handling; Holsinger's dry plate notes give the same advice for plates.
2. Make the ground. Smoke the glass over a candle, ink it, paint it, or draw directly on film.
3. Draw. Scratch through the ground with a needle, stick or brush end. Almost any opaque material that dries on glass can be used (Wikipedia).
4. Print. Place the plate directly on the paper, lowering it gently (Godman). Historical prints were exposed in sunlight (Godman). We give no exposure times; there is no published figure in our sources, so make test strips for your paper and light.
5. Mind the sides. Turning the plate over reverses the image. Sharpness drops when the plain side of the glass touches the paper (Wikipedia).
6. Process the paper normally (Godman).
7. Repeat. The glass is a negative, so you can make many prints.

Variations

• Tonal plates. Henry Holmes Smith dripped corn syrup on plates in the 1940s for tonal effects (Wikipedia).
• Film bases. Godman lists lith film, photocopies on acetate and acetate marked with pens, paint, glue stick or dirt as modern bases. Wikipedia adds frosted Mylar, felt-tip on film and sand on glass.
• Scale. Godman's Body Symbols (1986) used two sheets of 16x20 inch paper.
• Hybrid. Lloyd Godman used litho crayon on glass, masking the centre with tape (Godman).

Troubleshooting

Safety

• Lead. The Arras method used white lead powder (Wikipedia). We do not give a recipe that uses lead.
• Solvents and inks. Read the SDS for any varnish, ink or solvent you use; we have not fetched them.
• Flame. Keep the candle away from paper and any flammable liquid.
• Handling glass. Wear gloves when cleaning or sanding glass, and put broken pieces in a rigid container.
• Sun printing. If you use daylight, protect your eyes and skin from strong sun while you wait.
• Waste. Dispose of spent photographic chemistry as your local waste service advises.
• Children and pets. Keep sharp tools, glass and candles out of reach.

Further reading

Lloyd Godman, "Cliché verre" within his photogram resource, with the historical and modern notes it draws on.

Wikipedia's article on cliché verre lists the Barbizon and modernist artists who used the process, a useful start for looking at original prints.

Sources

• Cliché verre, Wikipedia
• Sequence viewing: Photograms, the ultimate photogram resource, Lloyd Godman
• Corot, cliché-verre print (albumen paper), Victoria and Albert Museum
• Dry Plate Workshop v2, Terry Holsinger, Unblinking Eye