The new collector: of etching and Edward Hopper.

What collector of American art, new or experienced, would not relish owning a work by Edward Hopper? Given the six- to eight-figure prices Hopper's paintings command, is this a pipe dream for anyone except the very wealthy? Not necessarily. Because etchings are printed in multiples, they offer the new collector an opportunity to own work by a desirable artist for a more affordable price than paintings or drawings.

Hopper proved a master etcher early in his career. Around 1915 he began to produce a small but vivid series of etching that captured everyday New York life. His 1921 House Tops, illustrated here, which was recently featured in a fine Hopper show at the Craig F. Starr Gallery in New York, reveals not just his keen ability to create a memorable composition from a mundane scene, but also how well this medium suited the economy of line that is at the heart of his draftsmanship.

An appreciation of an etching as fine as House Tops could make anyone into a collector, but there are important things one needs to know and to consider before launching upon a collection.

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Methods

Etchings are a form of intaglio. Intaglio refers to print methods in which the lines to be printed are engraved into a metal plate. In straightforward line engraving--such as the steel engraving of United States paper currency--the engraver slowly and painstakingly cuts directly into the metal plate with sharp tools calls burins, pushing them along the plate to produce designs composed of patterns of lines (called hatching), crisscross textures (cross-hatching), and dotted textures (stipple).

Etching, however, allows the artist to work with a lighter, freer hand because he does not cut directly into the metal but only into an acid-resistant ground: A polished copperplate (or less ideally zinc) is coated on both sides with a ground of dark varnish or smoke-darkened wax, onto which the artist draws his design with a steel etching needle. As he draws, the needle exposes the metal underneath, and this ease of handling allows artists to draw with tremendous spontaneity, almost as they would draw on paper.