..... Click the link for more information. and etching etching, the art of engraving with acid on metal; also the print taken from the metal plate so engraved. In hard-ground etching the plate, usually of copper or zinc, is given a thin coating or ground of acid-resistant resin.
..... Click the link for more information. (which are intaglio intaglio (ĭntăl`yō, –täl`–)
..... Click the link for more information. ). The term woodcutting is loosely included within the wood-engraving process, from which, however, it can be distinguished. Woodcutting, the oldest method of printmaking, is accomplished using soft wood with a knife employed along the grain. Wood engraving, which developed in the 18th cent., is a technique using hard, end-grained wood worked with a graver or burin.
History
Woodcuts were used in ancient Egypt and Babylonia for impressing intaglio designs into unpressed bricks and by the Romans for stamping letters and symbols. The Chinese used wood blocks for stamping patterns on textiles and for illustrating books. Woodcuts appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 15th cent., when they were used to make religious pictures for distribution to pilgrims, on playing cards and simple prints, and for the block book block book. Before and after the invention of printing from movable types in the mid-15th cent., some books were printed in Europe from engraved wooden blocks, with one block for each page. This method was developed by the 9th cent. A.D. in China.
..... Click the link for more information. which preceded printing. At that time the artist and the artisan were one, the same person designing the cut and carving the block. One of the first dated European woodcuts is a St. Christopher of 1423.
After the invention of the printing press, woodcuts, being inked in the same way as type, lent themselves admirably to book illustration. Albrecht Pfister Pfister, Albrecht (äl`brĕkht pfĭs`tər), c.1420–c.1470, printer, of Bamberg, Bavaria.
..... Click the link for more information. first put them to this use c.1460. Other early woodcut illustrations are in the Bibles of the late 15th cent. and in the French Lyons edition (1493) of the works of Terence. The first Roman book with woodcuts appeared in 1467, but Venice became the center of Italian wood engraving. In the 16th cent. in France woodcuts frequently served to illustrate books of hours book of hours, form of prayer book developed in the 14th cent. from the prayers of clerics appended to the main service. The subjects of the miniature illustrations (see miniature painting ) were frequently derived from the appendix of the Psalter.
..... Click the link for more information. . The actual cutting was often performed by a specialist rather than by the designer.
In Germany, where the form was particularly well developed, Dürer Dürer, Albrecht (äl`brĕkht dür`ər)
..... Click the link for more information. and Hans Holbein Holbein, Hans (häns hôl`bīn) the elder, c.1465–1524, German painter and draftsman.
..... Click the link for more information. the younger were the most eminent woodcut designers of the Renaissance. Dürer's Life of the Virgin (1509–10) and Great Passion (1510–11) and Holbein's Dance of Death (1523–26) are among the best-known works of these masters. Lucas Cranach Lucas Cranach, the Younger, 1515–86, continued the tradition of his father whose workshop, signature, and popularity he inherited. Their work is often indistinguishable.
Bibliography
See study ed. by E. Ruhmer (1963).
..... Click the link for more information. the elder, Albrecht Altdorfer Altdorfer, Albrecht (äl`brĕkht ältdôr`fər), 1480–1538, German painter and engraver.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Hans Baldung Baldung or Baldung-Grien, Hans (häns bäl`d
..... Click the link for more information. also worked in wood engraving, employing a chiaroscuro technique originated by Jobst de Negker of Augsburg.
Decline and Revival
There was a decline in woodcutting with the increasing versatility and popularity of line engraving on metal. Even in the Netherlands, where woodcuts lasted longest, they were almost obsolete by the 18th cent. In England, however, Thomas Bewick Bewick, Thomas (by
`ĭk), 1753–1828, English wood engraver.
..... Click the link for more information. popularized wood engraving. He brought to perfection the technique of white-line engraving, in which lines print white on a black background. Gustave Doré Doré, Gustave (güstäv` dôrā`), 1832–83, French illustrator, engraver, painter, and sculptor.
..... Click the link for more information. was the best-known French master in this medium in the 19th cent.
William Blake Blake, William, 1757–1827, English poet and artist, b. London. Although he exerted a great influence on English romanticism , Blake defies characterization by school, movement, or even period.
..... Click the link for more information. also made wood engravings for some of his best book illustrations (e.g., for Thornton's Vergil; 1821). The Victorian weeklies used numerous wood-engraved drawings as illustrations. Most famous of English wood engravers were John Swain and the Dalziel brothers. In the United States wood engraving was practiced from the 19th cent. by such masters as Alexander Anderson, William James Linton Linton, William James, 1812–97, Anglo-American wood engraver, author, and political reformer. In 1842 he began working as a wood engraver with John Orrin Smith and produced illustrations for the newly formed London Illustrated News.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Timothy Cole Cole, Timothy, 1852–1931, American wood engraver, b. London. He came to the United States as a child. Cole learned his trade in Chicago and later moved to New York, where in 1873 he began his 40-year association with the Century Magazine (then
..... Click the link for more information. .
As photographic technology advanced, photography and photographic processes slowly replaced woodcut as a means of book illustration and wood engraving for reproduction of oil paintings. In the 1890s in France a revival of woodcutting to produce original prints was initiated by Paul Gauguin Gauguin, Paul (pôl gōgăN`), 1848–1903, French painter and woodcut artist, b.
..... Click the link for more information. , Edvard Munch Munch, Edvard (ĕd`värt m
..... Click the link for more information. , and Felix Vallotton Vallotton, Félix (fālēks` välətôN`), 1865–1925, Swiss woodcut artist and painter.
..... Click the link for more information. , who cut their blocks themselves. Their influence on 20th-century expression in this medium was enormous. Derain Derain, André (äNdrā` dərăN`), 1880–1954, French painter. He studied for a short time under Carrière.
..... Click the link for more information. , Dufy Dufy, Raoul (rä
..... Click the link for more information. , and Maillol Maillol, Aristide (ärēstēd` mäyôl`), 1861–1944, French sculptor, woodcut artist, and painter.
..... Click the link for more information. also made notable woodcuts. After World War II many artists in the United States, such as Leonard Baskin Baskin, Leonard, 1922–2000, American sculptor, graphic artist, and teacher, b. New Brunswick, N.J. In sculptural and graphic works that are figurative in style, Baskin's images of a corrupt, bloated humanity often have an element of sardonic humor.
..... Click the link for more information. , Sue Fuller, and Seong Moy, explored new formal and technical possibilities in the medium of woodcutting.
Bibliography
See A. M. Hind, An Introduction to a History of Woodcut (1935, repr. 1963); D. P. Bliss, A History of Wood-Engraving (rev. ed. 1964); A. H. Mayor, Prints and People (1971).
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