kfed - moderate diffraction is seldom an issue with LF work because the degree of enlargement is so small. In an 8x10 or even larger format contact print, even f/256 diffraction might not be noticeable. But in my case, making 16x20 or 20X24 FB black and white prints, I try to limit 8x10 stop-downs to f/64 or less. For 30X40 inch color prints, I try to limit it to f/45; but that is still only about a 4X enlargement. Few 8x10 photographs are taken at apertures as wide as f/8 unless a very shallow depth of field is in mind. None of my own 8x10 lenses even have that wide of an aperture to begin with.
But in terms of AA's vintage work, he simply didn't have the advantage of the same modern lenses or camera precision we do today. Later, approaching old age, he did. Nor would his sheet film have been consistently flat. That's evident by uneven horizon lines in some of his ocean pictures. And his earlier films themselves were quite grainy.
pentax user - people who make big wall paintings and use plotted grids with general lines sketched in by pencil in advance. Fresco muralists like my Aunt used big paper "cartoons" temporarily taped in place, then little pin indentations to mark the outlines in the plaster. That was a lot more difficult because true fresco requires the painting upon its surface before the plaster has dried. The plasters work directly ahead of the painter. There are no re-dos like in oil painting.
