An excellent venue for collecting antique
artwork is to collect original illustrations from Harper's Weekly, the
most popular illustrated newspaper of the 1800's. Until the
mid-1800's newspapers were primarily text. During the late 1850's,
Harper's Weekly pioneered an exciting new process that enabled the
inclusion of illustrations with the text. This technique was
developed just in time for the Civil War. The Civil War became the
first conflict in which the general public could, in almost real time, see
images from the battlefield, maps of the conflict, and images of the
leaders. Harper's Weekly brought the war home in a way that simply
was not possible with traditional text based newspapers. These
original illustrations from Harper's Weekly have become highly collectible
and important historical pieces. They offer dramatic eye-witness views of
the battles, leaders, and life during the Civil War. The story of how
Harper's delivered
this amazing
product to a news-hungry public during the war is a fascinating one. The
process started by the deployment of not only reporters, but also artists to the
battlefield. Some of the most renowned artists of the 1800's got their
start as illustrators for Harper's Weekly, including Winslow Homer and Thomas
Nast. Men such as these would accompany the war correspondents to the
battlefield. These artists would sketch scenes of the battles that they
witnessed. These sketches would then be dispatched back to Harpers
for publication in the upcoming papers. In order to publish the artwork,
the images had to be first be carved onto a block of wood. The challenge
came in that it would take a single carver a long time to accomplish the
task. In order to provide the illustrations in a timely fashion, a very
clever idea was developed. The illustration would be cut into individual 2
inch squares, and each square would be cut onto a different small block of wood
by a given carver.
By dividing the illustration up, a team of carvers could
carve a given illustration in a short period of time. After the
small blocks were completed, they were then screwed back together to form
the overall illustration. This completed wood block was then used as
a "master" to stamp the illustration onto all the newspapers
being printed. This process allowed timely and informative
illustrations of current Civil War news events.
These illustrations have now become prized and collectible pieces of
art. They provide the owner with a unique perspective on history, as the
illustrations represent eye-witness accounts of the artists that were actually
in the trenches with the soldiers.