We were delighted to work with The Society of Wood Engravers in their centenary year, designing and producing a 76-page exhibition catalogue. The work selected for their 82nd Annual Exhibition is exceptional – if you get a chance, see the work of the best practitioners at the travelling show in London, Thirsk, Oxford, Newcastle, Perth or Suffolk (details here).
2020 marks a century since a group of ten artists founded the Society. Among these, Philip Hagreen, Lucien Pissarro, Robert Gibbings, Noel Rooke, Eric Gill and Gwen Raverat began the Annual Exhibition which soon attracted work from other notable artists such as David Jones, Clare Leighton, Paul Gauguin, John and Paul Nash. Their main aim was to promote wood engraving as a medium for modern artists which is, at once, the simplest and one of the most exquisite forms of printmaking. The print is made, first, by engraving the reversed design or picture to be printed into the mirror-smooth surface of a block of endgrain wood. The patience and skill involved is something else.
Featured image: Harry Brockway (Printing ‘Severn Bore’)