The Huntington Museum of Art presents Into the Wood: Woodblock Prints from the Permanent Collection, on view now through July 24, 2011.
Woodcut, the oldest technique used in printmaking, belongs to the family of prints known as relief prints. To make relief prints, the artist draws on a flat block of wood, then cuts or gouges away the area around the drawing, so that the lines and forms that are to be inked and printed remain raised. Only low pressure is required to make a print (unlike intaglio and planographic printing), and this can be done in three ways: stamping, rubbing, or under a weighted press.
Woodblocks appeared in China during the 5th century, Japan during the 8th century, and in Europe during the 15th century. Once the techniques of engraving and etching were discovered, processes which allowed the artist to include greater detail, woodcuts became largely passé for many years. Toward the end of the 18th century, a metal engraver, Thomas Bewick, recognized the potential of wood engraving and brought it again to the forefront of artistic possibilities. He also developed the use of white line technique. The Japanese also developed the Ukiyo-e technique of color woodblock printing in 1765 which was a great influence on artists and printmakers all over the world, especially European and American artists working in the mid-to-late 19th century.
This exhibition will feature approximately 70 prints from the Museum’s permanent collection, presenting a wide range of woodblock techniques and styles. Highlights include an early 17th century woodblock print by Flemish artist Christoffel Jegher, executed after a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, a series of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Kunisada, woodcuts by Winslow Homer for Harper’s Weekly Magazine executed during the Civil War, wood engravings by Asa Cheffetz and Thomas Nason, a white line print by Blanche Lazzell, a portfolio of five wood engravings by Fritz Eichenberg commissioned for a special edition of Grimmelhausen’s The Adventures of Simplicissimus, and large scale woodcuts by John Buck and Louisa Chase, among many others.
This exhibit is generously sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Commission on the Arts and the Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment.
www.hmoa.org