observation Re: Rene Delcour interview

[gail.m]

Hello all,
I noticed in reading thru the interview archives, that the photos accompanying this particular interview showing the FN engraving workshop in its heyday are quite interesting in that it seems the majority of artist/craftsmen pictured are women.
Were there no great women artists coming from this place, or is it just an indication of the times?
Just curious....no bones to carry :>)
Gail

 

[John B.]

Hello all,
I noticed in reading thru the interview archives, that the photos accompanying this particular interview showing the FN engraving workshop in its heyday are quite interesting in that it seems the majority of artist/craftsmen pictured are women.
Were there no great women artists coming from this place, or is it just an indication of the times?

Gail

Hello Gail.
There are quite a few fine women engraver who worked in the FN factory engraving facility previously.
A couple of them are working in the US.
Rosa Bee, Angelo Bee's sister lives and works in Chatsworth, California.
She is a great engraver, cutting both the FN style scroll and many other of the classic types.
Another great ex-FN lady engraver, also working in California is Denise Thirion from the Santa Rosa area.
The German engraving schools produced some fine female engravers too.
One that come to mind was Heidemarie Hiptmayer, sadly departed.
And Ken Hunt in England trained his daughter to become a very fine engraver before she retired from it to raise her family.
Over the years I was proud to have many very fine and talented women engraving students who are now earning a living in the field.

Hope this helps, John B.

 

[John B.]

A PS to Gail.
The US has produced some fine female engravers too.
The great Ken Hurst training grounds produced both Lisa Tomlin and Christy George, to name just two.
Both world class engravers. And there are many others.
But a senior moment is getting in the way right now.
John B.

 

[pierre]

you can see that in 1950 the fn workshop have more men than women but 9 years later it was different.all fn worker were teaching at fn school the master was Felix Funken. you can see a photo from the chief engraver of women.
the fn had the biggest engraving workshop because they have a lot of guns to produce and all the engraving was done by hand.
they were about 5 master engraver , the other one's have the good, the mid and the simple quality range of engraving.
with the mecanical and chimical engraving, they closed the fn engraving school. for the moment there is only two engraver at fn workshop for the high grade.
the fn work with a little association of free lance engraver for the catalog engraving.
In belgium we have Cecile Flohimont as woman master engraver.

 

[ED DELORGE]

Hello Pierre, To back up a little bit in time, the pictures you posted a few weeks ago were great. The Browning Superposed you engraved with the gold over layed duck was excellent. I have to appreicate the education you have gained and the apprenticeship you have gone through. Most american engravers wish that they could have the same training. I have seen many guns that Cecile Flohimont has engraved with the sculptured scroll and game sceens. Tremendous. Have you learned her techniques? And if you have can you share them with us. Especially the step by step (and what kind of tools) methods that she uses to accomplish the beautiful polished sculptured scrolls? I suppose it must take a lot of time to accomplish?

By the way I have the Book Four centuries of Liege Gunmaking. I have read most of it several times especially the section on the Liege engraving school and the roll Felix Funken played in establishing the school.

Please share with us if you will!

Ed DeLorge