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Exhibition of wood engravings set for fall semester 3:48 p.m., Aug. 9, 2004--“American Wood Engravers,” an exhibition of works by modern masters of illustration, will be featured by the University of Delaware Library during fall semester. The exhibition focuses on top 20th-century artists such as Lynd Ward, Fritz Eichenberg, Rockwell Kent, Leonard Baskin and Barry Moser. Each of these artists carved out a distinctive style based on the 400-year-old tradition of wood block printing. “American Wood Engravers” will be on view in the Information Room of the Morris Library from Tuesday, Aug. 31, through Friday, Dec. 17. The curator is Iris Snyder, associate librarian in the Special Collections Department. “American Wood Engravers” is being exhibited in conjunction with “John DePol: Artist and Engraver,” a major exhibition on the second floor of the Morris Library in the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery. Engraving and printing from a block of wood is an ancient technique. In the Western artistic tradition, printing from wood was the first method used for producing illustrations for books after the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. The basic technique, referred to as a woodcut, involves using knives and chisels to cut away the area around the design on a plank of wood so that only the raised areas are inked and printed. During the late 16th century, a more sophisticated method was developed. Referred to as wood engraving, it uses the end of a block of wood cut across the grain. This technique uses harder wood and more refined tools to produce greater detail than is possible in a woodcut. During the 19th century, wood engraving was a commonly used book illustration method, but by the beginning of the 20th century this process had been almost entirely replaced for commercial illustrations by photo-reproduction techniques. While commercial, or reproductive engraving, was falling out of favor during the last years of the 19th century, the creative use of wood engraving was becoming more popular. America saw a revival of the technique after World War I. This tradition continued throughout the century with artists and illustrators using wood engraving to produce both prints and book illustrations. For more information about these exhibitions, call (302) 831-2231. To check library hours, call 302-831-BOOK or visit To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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