Jan.30.2020


Christopher and Ingrid Weimann marbled paper collection.
Hollis Archives.Lib Harvard.Edu.
Hollis for Archival Discovery.
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge.

Christopher Weimann (1946–1988) was a celebrated master American paper marbler, who in his lifetime exhibited internationally and his work is represented in collections internationally. Since the early 1970s, he produced specially-made papers for a number of limited-edition publications, and also published two letterpress-printed editions on marbling of his own, together with his wife Ingrid, through Dawson’s Book Shop in Los Angeles. Both a pioneer of marbled designs and also scholarly researcher who researched historical pieces and technical methods, Weimann most notably investigated a number of rare marbled drawings, attributed to the 17th-century Deccan Sultanates in India. He proved that they were produced using cut paper stencils and gum resists applied to the paper before marbling, sometimes repeatedly with alternating masks, with stunning effects. 

Due to both the high caliber of Weimann’s marbling and the significance of his research, interest in his work has continued after his untimely death at the age of 42 in 1988.  He has been featured posthumously in several exhibitions, both domestically in the United States and also internationally in Spain, France, and Turkey, and examples of his publications by other practicing marblers and historians worldwide. 

A marbled paper of Christopher's shown here at the Ebru Kongress in 2016, Istanbul. It is in the Collection at Ebristan. It is the only one he did in this way and it was wonderful to see again.

A Marbler's hands at work; the late Christopher Weimann

Last years Ebru Kongress in Istanbul, May 7-14 was wonderful. Many Exhibtions and time spent with Marblers' from around the World. A true Feast and Experience.

El Papel Decorado in Madrid 2014/15

It was an unplanned and sudden decision not to miss the Exhibition of Decorated Papers at the Imprenta Municipal Artes Del Libro Museum in Madrid. Christopher being honored with a Case of many pieces of work and books was also part of the decision. Meeting Antonio in person after corresponding with each other for many years another reason to go. 

The first moments of arriving at this spectacular museum inspired me even before I went upstairs to

see the Exhibition. I was overcome with emotion.

Here with Antonio Velez Celemin who put the show together and the Director of the Museum Jose B.Bermejo Martin on my first of three visits.

The case in Front

and back.

It was wonderful to see the many works of friends and all the creative Artists. It was truly a wonderful treat in person though both the Digital and Catalogue are good to see also.

Thank you Antonio.

Stencil work

Lately I have tried taking images from slides and find after so many years they have faded 
but a few images are still clear enough to share.

The outer boarder so very delicate and not connecting. Positioning the pieces was a tremendous job because any glue positioned wrong would act as a resist. Truthfully I left the house and Chris only did a a few after many experiments and failures. I'm happy to look back and see his accomplishment. 

Recreation of a Painting in Miniature.

A photo taken from a page in the Tribute book showing Christopher recreating a painting in Miniature "Two Figures in a Landscape."

Showing the three steps to completion. First the kumlu which then is covered with a resist and then the combed marbled pattern.

Here a page from the Tribute book showing the three stages and a slide photo of the original.

The Tribute book is still available and on the Feb.4, 2010 entry the Digital
prospectus can be read. Contact & sales: floatingcolors@att.net

Here a few pages of the book which for the moment is discounted. 

Double click to enlarge.

PS to the previous entry on the Miniature book

The final cover design below that we decided to use. The above piece, 4"X8" was in the attempt to make a Cover pattern and was an accidental design that he was not able to do again. It happened so fast and he hadn't taken notes as he usually did. This was the first miniature book awarded the "Award of Merit of the Western Book Exhibition" in 1981 after is was much debated if such a small book was to be included. It was noted that a small book can be as much work as a large one. It was an edition of 350 copies and they sold as fast as we could make them. There were many firsts in that book such as the first book in miniature marbling, the first example of of combined line engraving and hand marbling on a single sheet in the depiction of the finger holding a pin applying the color to the size.

Marbling in miniature. I had promised an entry long ago, giving it a try now.
Doing the job himself on his second book was a great joy, every single step of the process.
Here he is printing the text on a Pilot Press at Dawson's Book Shop. In 1981 he received the Award of Merit of the Western Books Exhibition, being the first Miniature book on this subject to receive this award.

The color troughs for the miniature papers were metal pieces used for sliding glass windows
with wax at the ends to retain the colors.

I eventually had the loose pages mounted on a board to show at lectures.  In front are a few projects he was asked to do for others. The combs shown are for larger papers.

Here he matched the colors to the stamp "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by the Rebecca Press to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Washington Irving's birth.
Having given a slide show on the making of his book on Marbling in Miniature he was asked to do other end papers for projects.

Perhaps I'll add a few more pictures in time but just wanted to share this because I had promised long ago. I may have mentioned this somewhere already that Milena Hughes had made the collage of photos for me that I had sent her and is in the heading of the blog.

Three Panels & a Display case

In front of three panels of Christopher's papers at the exhibition in 2006 at the University of Washington.

Fine Tuning

A slight delay on entries do to major work on putting a collection of Christopher's finest work in order with the help of the marbler Vi Wilson from Australia who especially came to help me with this huge task, nonstop work for long five days. So once again I say I'll add to the entry but now I have to collect my thoughts and leave you with a few pictures of the sorting job.

Until the next entry

A thank you

to you who write comments that always encourage me to add something else. I always think there may be nothing else I could add but then when you write I feel joy and try finding something I had not shown. I thank you for wanting to see more, Ingrid

Temporary entry

To create a new entry seems more difficult over time because much has been shown and shared but then an idea developes and that energy is wonderful. This is to say my brain is working on hopefully an interesting addition but having first to reread previous entries so not to repeat myself. This is also an opportunity to wish everyone a good and creative New Year. It is so wonderful for me to be in touch with so many marblers.

With best wishes, Ingrid

Bullseye

Every marbler who encounters extreme fluctuations with weather, from moist to suddenly very

dry knows about paper turning too dry and dust problems unless you have a controlled environment. It was a constant struggle for Christopher in this climate so when it was a perfect day for marbling after having prepared papers and colors days ahead it was a joy for him when everything worked. This 18X24 piece was one of those days. No intention for achieving patterns that day but to see how the colors worked.

Steps to Paris

In 1985 Christopher was asked to contribute if possible a modern design for an exhibition in Paris to be shown in December 1985. As many marblers achieve a pattern by continuous steps arriving at the desired pattern it never occured to me to show how Chris arrived at his final paper he named Paris for the exhibition until I explained it to Vi Wilson, a marbler from Australia who was visiting me and who said it was very interesting to see how he arrived at the final design. I decided to show the 4 papers (approx.size 19"x 25")that let up to the one he decided is the one.

So here is the first attempt above. I do not recall over how many weeks or month his attempts took at arriving what he hoped to achieve. Here another step above.I remember at this point he started to like what he had created but felt it wasn't modern enough.This lovely pattern was shown on the cover for the Second International Marblers'Gathering Exhibition in San Francisco, 1992. If I remember correctly he nearly felt he had it with the one above but the background was too busy so he marbled on to arrive finally at Paris below. Exhibited in Les Arts Du Livre d'Hier a Demain (Atelier d'Arts Appliques du Vesinet) Honorary degree for "Paris" paper. Exhibiton shown at the Museum of Luxembourg, Paris. In March of 2011 when Vi Wilson returned for 6 days to help me categorize Christopher's work for a collection and detailing works we noticed there were many attemptet steps to arrive at the final design and as we talked about how he went about it she wrote: "These papers were not created by successive over-marbling, but the different elements ( leaves, flowers etc.) were progressively added to the previous layer/s of color/pattern on the size. The completed pattern was then transferred to a sheet of paper". Vi Wilson

Passion

It has come to my attention that a miniature painting Christopher recreated to learn how it was made is in the collection at the Brooklyn Museum: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/127707/Stalling_Elephant/set/?referring-q=elephant=

It belonged to Dr. Bertram Schaffner who had it hanging in is office for many years before it was donated to the Brooklyn Museum. He allowed Chris to publish his findings in his Fine Print article of Oct.1983, Volume Nine, Number Four. It was one of the first multiple stenciled pieces Chris was intrigued with and wanted to study and learn how to make. Some years later he met Dr.Schaffner in person in NY city and saw the original. Dr.Schaffner felt he should put the painting in a safe after discussing all that he learned about the miniatures so he said to Chris "Thanks a lot Christoper, now I cannot enjoy it on my wall anymore" with a smile I'm sure.

"Stalling Elephant with Two Riders is an excellent example of a painting produced by the stencil method, in this case by means of four different stencils. While all four marblings are in tarakli-ebru pattern and were made with the same comb, variety was achieved by combing the pattern in varying directions and by using different colors for each marbling. The marbler used a single comb with a pin spacing of approximately one millimeter. The two riders were produced with the first stencil, the top blanket was shaped by the second stencil, and the under blanket by the third; the fourth stencil created the elephant's body. After each of these stencil applications, the marbled paper was thoroughly rinsed, dried, pressed, and recoated with a solution of alum. The fourth pattern is particular interesting because several "skips," long solid lines, appear in the tarakli-ebru pattern. A skip results when a marbler lifts the comb out of the size for a short interval and puts it in again as he pulls the comb across the colors. (Skips are also prominent in the marbling of the four paintings of emaciated horses.) Obviously the artist gave a great deal of thought to how he could achieve life and movement in his painting through marbling. After the marbling was completed, the remaining details were drawn in by hand. The stencils need not have been applied in the order given here, but I found that using them in any other sequence would have meant covering a larger area at each marbling to mask what had been marbled previously. In those marbling processes where a stencil must be glued onto previously marbled areas of the paper, great care must be exercised while soaking and peeling away the stencil; removing the stencil too quickly could damage the marbling." (Christopher in Fine Print, in above mentioned issue.

Christopher's passion for learning, the challenges of what had been done hundreds of years before him, the joy of discovering and sharing and now being quoted in a museum surely would make him smile and be proud. I want to thank Jake Benson for inspiring this entry by letting me know of the piece's web access.

Beyond Endpapers

At first Christopher's goal was to be able to make patterned papers with the intend of selling them as endpapers. For years we searched in Bookstores, Libraries, Art stores and the like to find patterns or the history of them.

We spent endless weekends browsing these places and then one day in the mid 1970's we came upon the first marbled miniature painting and from that moment on Chris was determined to find out anything he could about these, find as many as possible and the owners as well. Contact with the first one we had seen in a catalogue at LACMA took a year to finally meet Dr. Edwin Binney,3rd at the San Diego Museum of Art (with Chris above signing the catalogue)where Chris for the first time saw the original and others in his collection. He then knew that they were not collages but in fact marbled with stencil, resists or both. In time he proofed it to be correct by recreating them and later on by the generosity of Dr. Binney to loaned to the LA County Museam of Art and Chris had to conince them that it was worth to have them analyzed by X-ray flourescence. They were indeed made the way Chris had thought from the beginning and by lecturing with slide shows showing the steps and an article in the Stanford Imprint 1982, Fine Print 1983, to just mention a few, he shared what he learned.The above inscription by Dr.Binney,3rd with Chris in San Diego reads "For Chris with many thanks for what you are doing, 1978." And in 1980 Dr. Binney again thanks Christopher fondly for his help to understanding how they were made because he had written:"The elements in the scene, in addition to their marbling, are cut out and pasted on the background-a marbled, decoupe album page. Our lack of knowledge as to exact location in no way detracts from the aesthetic mastery of these leaves. But it would still be helpful to find a 'willing hand' to fill in still another gap in our knowledge of Deccani painting."**Indian Paintings From The Deccan. A lecture by Edwin Binney, 3rd, PhD for The Royal Society of Arts Journal, Nov. 1979.

The enthusiasm of these two people after they met and shared, one the Collector and Chris the marbler I shall never forget. Chris was the "willing hand" by his excitement for learning as much as possible.After Chris completed his first slide presentation of how he thought the miniatures were made he then took it to San Diego to show it to Dr. Binney and he gave him a gift of one creation of the three stenciled steps of the "Tiger Eating A Gazelle surrounded By Deer"(below). I don't believe Chris even signed the pieces, he was just simply happy to be able to share, that's how he was. It wasn't fame he was after, not even trying to leave a mark, simply to learn and do projects. At that point he wanted to create miniatures, trying various printing techniques to be able to do a limited editon of originals. However, sadly, time was cut short.