Photographic Process: Rotogravure

Who Invented the Rotogravure and What Is It?
 

Karl Klic, a German printer, began developing the rotogravure printing technique (also simply referred to as gravure) in 1880 and successfully perfected it in 1890[1]; however, Klic did not share or publish news of his invention.  Two years later in 1892 Adolf Brandweiner developed the same process. It was more popularly used in Europe until the early 1900s. Since its introduction to the United States in 1905 it is still in use as a printing process.

The rotogravure technique is most commonly used in the printing of images in newspapers and other publications but could also be used for the printing of stamps, postcards, cardboard packaging, and decorative paper. [2]From 1930 until 1960 many newspaper companies in the United States were using this technique and even had a separate newspaper section for rotogravures.[3] Everyday we encounter rotogravure prints several times when we read our favorite magazines to when we are in a store to when we are preparing a meal.

Given the large volume of items printed using this technique it can be difficult to find information about the creators of the images printed in large runs. With newspapers and similar publications it is much easier to find photographers whose work was printed with this technique.  One such photographer was Arthur Griffin who was employed at the Boston Globe when it first started printing using the rotogravure technique in 1935. [4]Griffin was the first photojournalist in New England and transformed the way photographs were used in newspapers.[5]

A February 12, 1939 Issue of the Boston Globe’s 

rotogravure magazine, Pictorial, featuring photographs taken by Arthur Griffin.

In the early years of rotogravure printing the process was as follows[6]:

•       A sheet of gravure pigment paper was sensitized with dichromate
•      The pigment paper was then pressed against the gravure screen. At this point in the process the gelatin beneath the screen lines was rendered insoluble.
•       The screen was removed.
•       The pigment paper was pressed against a positive of the image.
•      The gelatin layer was then transferred onto a printing cylinder and developed in warm water.
•      The cylinder was etched to the depths of the corresponding positive with a ferric chloride solution that penetrated the gelatin layer.
•       Then the copper cylinder was plated with chrome for an ideal hard printing surface.
•       The cylinder was placed in the press and received ink from a reservoir.
•       As it was rotating the cylinder has excess ink removed by a doctor blade. 
•      The printing paper was fed through the press in separate sheets or from a roll, picking up the ink.

Now the cylinder is instead etched using digital signals to create a pattern before an image or design is printed in large runs. [7]

How to Identify a Rotogravure 

There are a couple of unique characteristics for this type of image[8]

• An evenly spaced and sized square cell pattern, which is created when the rotating cooper cylinder makes contact with the paper, accompanied by the presence of intermediate print tones
• Visible “toothy” paper fibers upon closer examination
• Sometimes has a grainy appearance when the ink has been forced to one side of the etched pockets

How to Date a Rotogravure

To date an example of the process look at the information present within the image. The design of the surrounding page can also give useful clues as to when the image was published.

Preservation Concerns[9]

 Common preservation concerns are temperature, relative humidity, acidification, light, foxing, and mold.

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[1] Most of the historical information is from these two sources:

“History of Gravure”, European Rotogravure Association, http://www.era.eu.org.

Crawford, William, Keepers of Light: A History and Working Guide to Early Photographic Processes (New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1979), 247-248. 

[2] Benson, Richard, The Printed Picture (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2010), 238-239.

 “The Rotogravure Process and the Use of Pictorials in Newspapers” http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rotogravures/rotoprocess.html

[3] “Arthur Griffin – The Globe Years”, The Griffin Museum,  http://www.griffinmuseum.org/blog/show/arthur-griffin-the-globe-years/.

Benson, Richard, The Printed Picture (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2010), 238-239.

[4] “Arthur Griffin – The Globe Years”, The Griffin Museum,  http://www.griffinmuseum.org/blog/show/arthur-griffin-the-globe-years/.

[5] Ibid.

[6] This description of the process is adapted from Crawford, William, Keepers of Light: A History and Working Guide to Early Photographic Processes (New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1979), 247-248.

[7] “History of Gravure”, European Rotogravure Association, http://www.era.eu.org.

[8] Indentification tips from “Guided Tour: Rotogravure”

http://www.graphicsatlas.org/guidedtour/#next.

[9] For preservation concerns I consulted this website: http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/.