Wood-fired!

Stations of the Block

This blog is largely about my passions. One of the stations of my passion that I haven’t covered yet is wood-block printing (and linocut and wood-engraving). The print above is one of my favourite linocuts. It is one of the set of glorious Christmas Cards produced by Eric Thake between 1948 and 1977. This delightful visual pun was produced the year before the Sydney Opera House was opened.

The image at left is one of my meagre contributions to this fine genre. It is the bookplate we use at home (when we get around to it which isn’t that often). As you can see it was designed with my cookbook collection (120+) in mind.

I find it hard to explain (even to myself) why I am so enthralled by black and white prints - often made with relatively crude cuts into wood or lino. I don’t know whether it’s the sense of immediacy or honesty or low-tech accessibility or something more primal. But they never fail to thrill me.

I’ve had the above image on my computer for many years and no longer know where it came from. It exudes a confidence in life’s bounty that may now be misplaced - much like the provenance of this image.

This linocut was exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia in 1994. It shows a wonderful array of the textures that this medium allows. I love the organic rhythm in the background.

Not exactly a print but in the same style is this logo used as a giant protest banner and a bumper sticker. It was designed by my friends Michael and Christine during a successful campaign to prevent the establishment of a charcoal factory in the small town of Mogo on the south-east coast of Australia.

This is a gorgeous example of wood engraving by a favourite artist, Lionel Lindsay (brother of the more widely known Norman Lindsay).

4 comments January 14th, 2009