I am Robert Fulton Logan’s grandson Henry Woodbridge. Robert died in 1959 only two years after my birth. His only child Rosamond Elliott, my mother, died in 2017. Into my possession landed all of Robert F Logan art and equipment. Etching tools and his trial printing press, portable easels and his large studio easel, paint pallettes and paint boxes. Twelve solander boxes with what remains of signed numbered limited edition etchings. Most created in France but also Stateside. Some of the collections are over 100 years old. Also in my possession are several etched copper plates that were never commercially printed.

The first phase of this endeavor are his dining plate designs. The second phase will be adding signed limited edition etchings. The final phase will be limited edition prints from etched copper plates that were never commercially printed.

Etching is a technique that was used to decorate armor dating back to Ancient Greece and Egypt. When Robert created an etching he first went into the field with his easel and sketch paper and produced a pencil drawing of the subject. The drawing was brought to his studio where he would replicate the subject onto the copperplate. The plate was heated and covered with a waxy substance called the ground. The ground was a mixture of white wax, bitumen, pitch and resin. The wax was melted in a pot and the other ingredients were added little by little and mixed. A ball of ground would be wrapped with silk and the mixture would be applied to the warm copper plate. The protective covering would be removed with a variety of etching tools. The copper plate would be bathed in acid to cut the lines where the ground was removed. In a letter Robert wrote to his parents he described this process repeating thirty times or more to complete the subject. Robert died from lung and liver failure at the age of seventy. Exposure to the gasses given off by the acids no doubt played a role in his demise.