For the origins of the technique, and non-artistic use, see woodblock printing; for the related technique invented in the 18th century, see wood engraving. For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan. Wood engraving is a Relief printing technique where the end grain of Wood is used as a medium for Engraving, thus differing from the older technique of

Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer

Ukiyo-e woodcut, Ishiyama Moon by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1889)

Woodcut is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the forces of man's destruction described in the Christian Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. Albrecht Dürer (ˈalbʀɛçt ˈdyʀɐ ( May 21, 1471 &ndash April 6, 1528) was a German painter, Printmaker "pictures of the floating world" is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or Woodcuts) and Paintings produced between the 17th Tsukioka Yoshitoshi ( 1839 - June 9, 1892) (月岡 芳年 also named Taiso Yoshitoshi ja 大蘇 芳年 was a Japanese artist A relief print is an image created by a Printmaking process such as Woodcut, where the areas of the matrix (plate or block that are to show printed black (typically Printmaking is the Process of making artworks by Printing, normally on Paper. The areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). Wood engraving is a Relief printing technique where the end grain of Wood is used as a medium for Engraving, thus differing from the older technique of In Europe beechwood was most commonly used; in Japan, a special type of cherry wood was used. For the babyfood see Beech-Nut. Beech ( Fagus) is a genus of ten Species of Deciduous Trees in the This article is about the Cherry berry also classified as fruit for the ornamental tree See Cherry Blossom.

The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas. A brayer is a hand roller used in Printmaking techniques to spread ink or to offset an image from a plate to paper

Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (where a different block is used for each color). The art of carving the woodcut can be called "xylography", but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and "xylographic" are used in connection with blockbooks, which contain text. For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan.

Division of labour

In both Europe and Japan, traditionally the artist only designed the woodcut, and the block-carving was left to specialist craftsmen, called "formschneider" in German, some of whom became well-known in their own right. They in turn handed the block on to specialist printers. There were further specialists who made the blank blocks.

There were various methods of transferring the artist's drawn design onto the block for the cutter to follow. Either the drawing would be made directly onto the block (often whitened first), or a drawing on paper was glued to the block. Drawing is a Visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium Either way, the artist's drawing was destroyed during the cutting process. Other methods were used, including tracing.

This is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as "designed by" rather than "by" an artist; but most authorities do not use this distinction. The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium relatively easily, without needing to learn the use of woodworking tools. Woodworking is the process of building making or carving something using Wood.

In both Europe and Japan, in the early twentieth century some artists began to do the whole process themselves. In Japan, this movement was called Sōsaku hanga, as opposed to the Shin hanga movement, which retained the traditional methods. The' Sosaku hanga' (literally creative prints Art movement in early 20th century Japan during the Taishō and Shōwa periods advocated the principles The shin hanga (literally new prints) Art movement in early 20th century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods revitalized In the West, many artists used the easier technique of linocut instead. Linocut is a Printmaking technique a variant of Woodcut in which a sheet of Linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block is used for the relief surface

Methods of printing

Block-cutter at work. woodcut by Jost Amman 1568

Compared to intaglio techniques like etching and engraving, only low pressure is required to print. Jost Amman (1539&ndash1591 was a Swiss artist celebrated chiefly for his Woodcuts done mainly for book illustrations Intaglio (pronounced in-TAL-yo ɪn'tælɪəʊ is a family of Printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface known as the matrix or plate For other uses of etch or etching, see Etching (disambiguation, for the history of the method see Old master prints. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it As a relief method, it is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print.

There are three methods of printing to consider:

• Stamping: Used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts (1400-40). These were printed by putting the paper/fabric on a table or other flat surface with the block on top, & pressing or hammering the back of the block

• Rubbing: Apparently the most common method for Far Eastern printing on paper at all times. Used for European woodcuts and block-books later in the fifteenth century, and very widely for cloth. Also used for many Western woodcuts from about 1910 to the present. The block goes face up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top. The back is rubbed with a "hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton". ^[1] A modern tool used for this is called a baren. Baren (馬連、馬楝 is a Japanese tool used in Printmaking processes such as Woodcut or Linoleum. Later in Japan, complex wooden mechanisms were used to help hold the woodblock perfectly still and to apply proper pressure in the printing process. This was especially helpful once multiple colors began to be introduced, and needed to be applied with precision atop previous ink layers.

• Printing in a press: presses only seem to have been used in Asia in relatively recent times. Printing-presses were used from about 1480 for European prints and block-books, and before that for woodcut book illustrations. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image Simple weighted presses may have been used in Europe before the print-press, but firm evidence is lacking. A deceased Abbess of Mechelen in 1465 had "unum instrumentum ad imprintendum scripturas et ymagines . Mechelen ( Mechlin in English is a Dutch-speaking city and municipality in the province of Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium. . . cum 14 aliis lapideis printis" - "an instrument for printing texts and pictures . . . with 14 stones for printing" which is probably too early to be a Gutenberg-type printing press in that location. Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( 1398 &ndash February 3, 1468) was a German Goldsmith and printer who is credited ^[1]

History

Main articles Old master print for Europe, Woodblock printing in Japan for Japan, and Lubok for Russia

The Chinese Diamond Sutra, the oldest known dated printed book in the world, printed in the 9th year of Xiantong Era of the Tang Dynasty, i. An old master print is a work of art produced by a Printing process within the Western tradition (European or New World Woodblock printing in Japan (木版画 moku hanga) is a technique best known for its use in the Ukiyo-e artistic genre however it was In Russian, Lubok (Cyrillic Лубок) means a variety of Russian Folk art such as prints in Woodcut, characterized by simple Graphics For the use of the technique in art see Woodcut on the technique and Old master print for the history in Europe and Woodblock printing in Japan. The Tang Dynasty ( Middle Chinese: dhɑng (June 18 618&ndashJune 4 907 was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by e. 868 CE. British Library. The British Library ( BL) is the National library of the United Kingdom.

Qing Dynasty New Year picture

Woodcut first appeared in ancient China, where it is called Banhua, but has been most widely practised in Japan and Europe. A New Year picture (Chinese 年[[wikt 画|画]] is an important and popular Banhua in China Banhua (Chinese 版[[wikt 画|画]] is the Chinese umbrella term for any printed art objects and especially for those made in the Chinese style In China, from the 6th century onwards, woodcut icons became popular in Buddhist texts. An icon (from Greek εἰκών eikōn, "image" is a religious work of art most commonly a painting from Eastern Christianity. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Since the 10th century, woodcut pictures illustrated some Chinese literature, and some banknotes, such as Jiaozi. A banknote (often known as a bill, paper money or simply a note) is a kind of Negotiable instrument, a Promissory note made by a Jiaozi ( is a form of Banknote which appeared in 10th century Sichuan.

In China and Tibet printed images mostly remained tied as illustrations to accompanying text until the modern period. The earliest woodblock printed book, the Diamond Sutra contains a large image as frontispiece, and many Buddhist texts contain some images. The Diamond Sutra is a short Mahayana Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom genre which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes Later some notable Chinese artists designed woodcuts for books, but the individual print did not develop in China as an art-form in the way it did in Europe and Japan. Woodcuts in the form of New Year pictures, given to friends like Christmas cards, were popular, but not significant artistically. A New Year picture (Chinese 年[[wikt 画|画]] is an important and popular Banhua in China A Christmas card is a Greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to

In Europe, Woodcut is the oldest technique used for old master prints, developing about 1400, by using on paper existing techniques for printing on cloth. An old master print is a work of art produced by a Printing process within the Western tradition (European or New World The explosion of sales of cheap woodcuts in the middle of the century led to a fall in standards, and many popular prints were very crude. Popular Prints is a term for printed images of generally low artistic quality which were sold cheaply in Europe and later the New World from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries often The development of hatching followed on rather later than in engraving. Hatching ( hachure in French) and cross-hatching are artistic techniques used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing (or painting or scribing closely Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it Michael Wolgemut was significant in making German woodcut more sophisticated from about 1475, and Erhard Reuwich was the first to use cross-hatching (far harder to do than in engraving or etching). Michael Wolgemut (formerly spelt Wohlgemuth) (1434 &ndash 1519 German painter and Printmaker, was born and died in Nuremberg Erhard Reuwich ( Reeuwijk) was a Dutch artist as a designer of Woodcuts and a printer, who came from Utrecht but then worked in For other uses of etch or etching, see Etching (disambiguation, for the history of the method see Old master prints. Both of these produced mainly book-illustrations, as did various Italian artists who were also raising standards there at the same period. At the end of the century Albrecht Dürer brought the Western woodcut to a level that has never been surpassed, and greatly increased the status of the single-leaf (ie an image sold separately) woodcut. Albrecht Dürer (ˈalbʀɛçt ˈdyʀɐ ( May 21, 1471 &ndash April 6, 1528) was a German painter, Printmaker

As woodcut can be easily printed together with movable type, because both are relief-printed, it was the main medium for book illustrations until the late-sixteenth century. Movable type is the system of Printing and Typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation The first woodcut book illustration dates to about 1461, only a few years after the beginning of printing with movable type, printed by Albrecht Pfister in Bamberg. Bamberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main Woodcut was used less often for individual ("single-leaf") fine-art prints from about 1550 until the late nineteenth-century, when interest revived. It continued to be important for popular prints until the nineteenth century in most of Europe, and later in some places. Popular Prints is a term for printed images of generally low artistic quality which were sold cheaply in Europe and later the New World from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries often

The art reached a high level of technical and artistic development in East Asia and Iran. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. In Japan woodblock printing is called "moku hanga", and was introduced in the seventeenth century for both books and art. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Woodblock printing in Japan (木版画 moku hanga) is a technique best known for its use in the Ukiyo-e artistic genre however it was The popular "floating world" genre of ukiyo-e originated in the second half of the seventeenth century, with prints in monocrome or two colours. "pictures of the floating world" is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or Woodcuts) and Paintings produced between the 17th Sometimes these were hand-coloured after printing. Later prints with many colours were developed. Japanese woodcut became a major artistic form, although at the time it was accorded a much lower status than painting. It continued to develop through to the twentieth century.

White-line woodcut

The Crab that played with the sea, Woodcut by Rudyard Kipling illustrating one of his Just So Stories. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 was an English Author and poet See also Just-so story for anthropological sense The Just So Stories for Little Children were written by British author Rudyard Kipling In mixed white-line (below) and normal woodcut (above)

This technique just carves the image in mostly thin lines, not unlike a rather crude engraving. The block is printed in the normal way, so that most of the print is black with the image created by white lines. This process was invented by the sixteenth-century Swiss artist Urs Graf, but became most popular in the nineteenth and twentieth century, often in a modified form where images used large areas of white-line contasted with areas in the normal black-line style. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Urs Graf (born 1485 in Solothurn, Switzerland; died after 1529 was a Swiss Renaissance painter and Printmaker (of This was pioneered by Félix Vallotton. Félix Edouard Vallotton ( December 28 1865 – December 29 1925) was a Swiss painter and printmaker associated with

Japonisme

Main article: Japonism

In the 1860s, just as the Japanese themselves were becoming aware of Western art in general, Japanese prints began to reach Europe in considerable numbers, and became very fashionable, especially in France. Japonism, or Japonisme, the original French term which is also used in English is a term for the influence of the arts of Japan on those of the They had a great influence on many artists, notably Edouard Manet, Pierre Bonnard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Félix Vallotton and Mary Cassatt. Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 &ndash 23 January 1947 was a French painter and Printmaker, a founding member of Les Nabis. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (ɑ̃ʁi dø tuluz loˈtʁɛk (24 November 1864 &ndash 9 September 1901 was a French painter, printmaker, draftsman Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903 was a leading Post-Impressionist painter. Félix Edouard Vallotton ( December 28 1865 – December 29 1925) was a Swiss painter and printmaker associated with Mary Stevenson Cassatt ( May 22, 1844 &ndash June 14, 1926) was an American painter and Printmaker. In 1872 Jules Claretie dubbed the trend "Le Japonisme". ^[2]

Though the Japanese influence was reflected in many artistic media, including painting, it did lead to a revival of the woodcut in Europe, which had been in danger of extinction as a serious art medium. Most of the artists above, except for Félix Vallotton and Paul Gauguin, in fact used lithography, especially for coloured prints. Lithography is a method for Printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface

Artists, notably Edvard Munch and Franz Masereel, continued to use the medium, which in Modernism came to appeal because it was relatively easy to complete the whole process, including printing, in a studio with little special equipment. Edvard Munch (mʉŋk December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, Printmaker Frans Masereel ( July 31, 1889 - January 3, 1972) was a Flemish painter and is considered one of the greatest Woodcut artists Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century The German Expressionists used woodcut a good deal. Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an Emotional effect it is a subjective art form

Colour

Colored woodcut Buddha, 10th century, China

Carp Painting, Dong Ho Painting, Vietnam

Coloured woodcut first appeared in ancient China. Dong Ho Painting or Vietnamese woodblock prints ( Tranh Đông Hồ) refers to a Vietnamese folk art originating in Dong Ho Village Song Ho Commune Thuan Thanh Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially The oldest known colored woodcuts are three Buddhist images dating back to the 10th century.

European woodcut prints with coloured blocks were invented in Germany in 1508 and are known as chiaroscuro woodcuts (see below). Chiaroscuro ( Italian for light-dark) is a term in Art for a contrast between light and dark However colour did not become the norm, as it did in Japan. In Europe and Japan, colour woodcuts were normally only used for prints rather than book illustrations.

In China, where the individual print did not develop until the nineteenth century, the reverse is true, and early colour woodcuts mostly occur in luxury books about art, especially the more prestigious medium of painting. The first known example is a book on ink-cakes printed in 1606, and colour technique reached its height in books on painting published in the seventeenth century. Notable examples are the Treatise on the Paintings and Writings of the Ten Bamboo Studio of 1633, and the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual published in 1679 and 1701. ^[3]

In Japan colour technique, called nishiki-e in its fully developed form, spread more widely, and was used for prints, from the 1760s on. (lit "brocade picture" refers to Japanese multi-colored Woodblock printing; this technique is used primarily in Ukiyo-e. Text was nearly always monochrome, as were images in books, but the growth of the popularity of ukiyo-e brought with it demand for ever increasing numbers of colors and complexity of techniques. By the nineteenth century most artists worked in colour. The stages of this development were:

• Sumizuri-e (墨摺り絵, "ink printed pictures") - monochrome printing using only black ink
• Benizuri-e (紅摺り絵, "crimson printed pictures") - red ink details or highlights added by hand after the printing process；green was sometimes used as well
• Tan-e (丹絵) - orange highlights using a red pigment called tan
• Aizuri-e (藍摺り絵, "indigo printed pictures"), Murasaki-e (紫絵, "purple pictures"), and other styles in which a single color would be used in addition to, or instead of, black ink
• Urushi-e (漆絵) - a method in which glue was used to thicken the ink, emboldening the image; gold, mica and other substances were often used to enhance the image further. Urushi-e (漆絵 literally meaning " Lacquer picture" refers to two types of Japanese artworks paintings painted with actual lacquer and particular Urushi-e can also refer to paintings using lacquer instead of paint; lacquer was very rarely if ever used on prints. In a general sense lacquer is a clear or coloured Varnish, that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard durable finish in any
• Nishiki-e (錦絵, "brocade pictures") - a method in which multiple blocks were used for separate portions of the image, allowing a number of colors to be utilized to achieve incredibly complex and detailed images; a separate block would be carved to apply only to the portion of the image designated for a single color. (lit "brocade picture" refers to Japanese multi-colored Woodblock printing; this technique is used primarily in Ukiyo-e. Registration marks called kentō (見当) were used to ensure correspondence between the application of each block.

Chiaroscuro woodcuts

Chiaroscuro woodcut depicting Playing cupids. In Roman mythology, Cupid (Latin cupido) is the god of Erotic Love and Beauty. Anonymous 16th century Italian artist.

Chiaroscuro woodcuts do not necessarily feature strong contrasts of light and dark, but are old master prints in woodcut using two or more blocks printed in different colours. Chiaroscuro ( Italian for light-dark) is a term in Art for a contrast between light and dark An old master print is a work of art produced by a Printing process within the Western tradition (European or New World They were first invented by Hans Burgkmair in Germany in 1508, and first made in Italy by Ugo da Carpi a few years later. Hans Burgkmair the elder (1473 - 1531 was a German painter and Printmaker in Woodcut. Ugo da Carpi (c 1455 &ndash c 1523 was an Italian painter and Printmaker who worked in Woodcut, once thought to be the inventor of the chiaroscuro [1] Other printmakers to use the technique include Cranach, Hans Baldung Grien and Parmigianino. Printmaking is the Process of making artworks by Printing, normally on Paper. Lucas Cranach may refer to Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472&ndash1553 Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515&ndash1586 Hans Baldung known as Hans Baldung Grien/Grün (c 1480 - 1545 Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola ( 11 January 1503 - 24 August 1540) also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as In Germany the technique was only in use for a few years, but Italians continued to use it throughout the sixteenth century, and later artists like Goltzius sometimes made use of it. Hendrik Goltzius ( 1558 - January 1, 1617) Dutch Printmaker, draftsman, and painter, was born at Millebrecht In the German style, one block usually had only lines and is called the "line block", whilst the other block or blocks had flat areas of colour and are called "tone blocks". The Italians usually used only tone blocks, for a very different effect, much closer to the drawings the term was originally used for, or watercolours. Watercolor ( US) or Watercolour ( UK) (and "aquarelle" in French is a Painting method

Modern variant

In modern printmaking, a quick method of separating printing from non-printing areas is to cover the printing areas with a shield, and then blasting the whole surface, either by sandblasting or shotblasting. Sandblasting or Bead blasting is a generic term for the process of smoothing shaping and cleaning a hard surface by forcing solid particles across that surface at high speeds The shield may be a metal outline, or a thick coat of rubber cement or similar compound. Rubber cement is an Adhesive made from elastic Polymers (typically latex mixed in a Solvent such as Acetone, Hexane, Heptane

Examples

A less sophisticated woodcut, designed for book printing (Ortus Sanitatis lapidary, Venice, Bernardino Benaglio e Giovanni de Cereto, 1511)

Jiaozi (currency), 10th century, Sichuan

Bar by Carl Eugen Keel (1885-1961)

Europe

• Dürer's Rhinoceros
• Emblem book
• Four horsemen of the Apocalypse
• Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
• Just So Stories
• Ars moriendi
• Lubok prints

Japan

• 36 Views of Mount Fuji (Hokusai)
• The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
• Ukiyo-e

Artists

• Hans Baldung
• Leonard Baskin
• Max Beckmann
• Hans Burgkmair
• Domenico Campagnola
• Ugo da Carpi
• Gustave Doré
• Werner Drewes
• Albrecht Dürer
• M. C. Escher
• Urs Graf
• Suzuki Harunobu
• Hiroshige
• Hokusai
• Kathe Kollwitz
• Fritz Kredel
• J. J. Lankes
• Frans Masereel
• Hishikawa Moronobu
• Edvard Munch
• Giovanni Battista Palumba
• J. G. Posada
• Utamaro
• Félix Vallotton
• Lynd Ward

See also

• Woodblock printing - Overview of history, including non-artistic uses
• Printmaking - main article covering all techniques
• Relief print
• Ukiyo-e - main article on Japanese woodcut prints
• Shin hanga - C20 "New Prints" movement in Japan
• Sōsaku hanga- C20 "Creative Prints" movement in Japan
• old master print - Social and Art History of the woodcut and other print techniques
• blockbooks - Medieval European books with both text and pictures in woodcut
• wood engraving - invented by Bewick; much used in C19
• Linocut
• metalcut - C15 woodcuts from metal plates
• Cordel literature - Popular Brazilian woodcut books
• Rubber stamp
• Chiaroscuro - Western woodcuts in colour
• O'Reilly Media uses a woodcut technics for their book covers

References

A Woodcut Manual, J. J. Lankes, Tampa Bay Press

External links

• [2]
• Ukiyo-e from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
• Woodcut in Europe from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
• Italian Renaissance Woodcut Book Illustration from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History
• Museum of Modern Art information on printing techniques and examples of prints.
• Woodcut in early printed books (online exhibition from the Library of Congress)