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- Sep 7
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Original Prints - Woodcuts

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September 7th, 2024

Original artist prints occupy an interesting space in the history of printmaking and the processes under its umbrella, existing not as reproductions of existing works but rather as pieces originally conceived as prints. Either working as sole practitioners or in collaboration with printmakers, artists making original prints have a variety of processes and materials at their disposal, the most well known of which are the relief methods.

Woodcut prints represent some of the earliest forms of relief printmaking and trace their origins the Hand dynasty around the first century AD. Through a process of applying ink to raised surfaces created through carving away the background material, ink could be repeatably applied to other materials. The early process of woodcut printing likely found its inspiration from stone and metal signets used for impressing seals. These woodcuts would begin a tradition of collaborative work between artists and printmakers that still exist today, wherein an artist would take their original image to a printmaker to translate the work into a carved wooden block suitable for single or multi-colour printing. Through the process of translating the original image onto the wood block for printing, the original would be destroyed and the final product would become and amalgamation of the the two mediums.

Panel from the Diamond Sutra from Tang dynasty China, the world's earliest printed text containing a date of production, AD 868.

The process of woodcut printing was refined through Japanese genre of ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world), which flourished during Japan’s isolationist period beginning in the 17th century. During this time, woodblock prints depicted scenes of everyday life, landscapes, and figures of celebrity and myth. Artists created imagery that would then be passed along to master carvers, creating woodcuts of increasing complexity with different blocks for individual colours and detail.

Woodcuts also have the interesting effect of losing their clarity over repeated use as the block wear down. This can be especially evident in prints with many individual color and detail blocks, causing a variability in the final product and implying an edition number before it was considered in the way that artist of today might edition a work.

Traditional painting was still the highest form of art in terms of prestige and value, but woodblocks made art prints available to the general public and publishers of these works made the accessibility of hand made prints highly lucrative. Much like photography would accomplish for portraiture centuries later, the accessibility of these prints caused an increased interest in collecting among the public.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Triptych of Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre, woodblock print, c. 1844. Image courtesy of V&A Museum.

Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" ("Fugaku Sanjurokkei"), colour woodblock print 1830 -1833. Art Institute of Chicago.

Hiroshige, Kambara, the Snow in the Night, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road", colour woodblock print, 7 1/2 x 10 1/2”, c. 1833.

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Utagawa Hiroshige, Nihonbashi: Daimyō Procession Setting Out, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road, color woodblock print on paper, 9 3/8 x 14 1/4”, c. 1833–1834.

This genre of printmaking was the pop-art of the era, with famous images such as The Great Wave off Kanagawa being printed upwards of 8,000 times. The series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" has influenced countless artists since it’s printing, including Jeff Wall’s A Sudden Gust of Wind, mimicking the use of local landscapes and transplanting the composition to Wall’s home city of Vancouver.

Hokusai, A Sudden Gust of Wind, from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" ("Fugaku Sanjurokkei"), colour woodblock print, 1830 -1833.

Sketch for Jeff Wall’s A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai),1993.

Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai), backlit Cibachrome transparency in lightbox, 98.5 x 156.25”, 1993.

Albrecht Durer, The Four Horsemen, woodcut, 15 1/4 x 11”, 1498. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Albrecht Durer, The Birth of the Virgin, woodcut printed in black ink on laid paper, 11 13/16 x 8 5/16, c. 1503.

Two continents away, Europe maintained it’s own style of woodcut printing. In the 15th century alongside of the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, the process of printmaking was alive and well in Europe. Partially used as a medium for the dissemination of religious materials, the European style of woodcuts were stylistically distinct from the Asian traditions. German Renaissance artists such as Durer created elaborate, monochromatic, highly detailed prints with a textural quality similar to that of an etching.

Käthe Kollwitz, The Parents (Die Eltern), state V/V plate 3 from War (Krieg), woodcut, 1921–22, published 1923.

Käthe Kollwitz, Frontal Self-Portrait, woodcut on homemade beige paper, image size 8 x 8.25”, 1922–23.

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Later German woodcuts like those of Käthe Kollwitz used a simplified, graphic quality in an inverse carving style to that of the German Renaissance work of Durer. The use of heavily inked areas create a gravity to her print run series entitled War which created following the death of her son in World War I.

Helen Frankenthaler, Essence Mulberry, Color woodcut from four blocks on tan Japanese paper, 39 11/16 × 18 5/16”, 1977.

Helen Frankenthaler, Freefall, Twelve color woodcut from 1 plate of 21 Philippine Ribbon mahogany plywood blocks on hand-dyed paper in 15 colors, 78 1/2 x 60 1/2”, 1993. Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York.

Kenneth Tyler, Robert Myer and Tom Strianese pulling proof impression from Helen Frankenthaler's 'Freefall' assembled woodblocks on hydraulic platen press in the workshop, Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York, 1992.

James Turrell, Aten Reign, light installation in the Fran Lloyd Wright rotunda of the Guggenheim, 2013. Image courtesy of the Guggenheim Museum.

James Turrell, Suite From Aten Reign, set of three ukiyo-e Japanese style woodcut with relief printing, 26 × 18 1/2” each, edition of 30, 2014. Pace Gallery.

James Turrell, Suite From Aten Reign, ukiyo-e Japanese style woodcut with relief printing, 26 × 18 1/2”, edition of 30, 2014. Pace Gallery.

Like many print processes with historic origins, contemporary artists have continued on the tradition of woodcut while applying their own modern twist on the medium. Helen Frankethaler created prints with intentionally soft textures and overlapping colours, foregoing the sharp and graphic details often sought after in the process. By using dental tools and sandpaper, they recreate the effect of a singular plane achieved in their paintings through a laborious process of textural blending.

James Turrell, an artist known primarily for their perceptual light art installations, was seeking a way to capture the ethereal quality of his light work. Using his 2013 installation Aten Reign as inspiration, Turrell worked with master printer Yasu Shibata to create the series From Aten Reign, combining oil and water mediums in separate blocks to achieve a shimmer and vibration that echoed the presence of his light based installations. This intricate process required fourteen different colours, twelve carved wood blocks, and a metal plate for every individual print.

M.C Escher, Sky and Water I, woodcut, 1938. Copyright The M.C. Escher Company.

Damien Hirst, Methyl Phenylsulfoxide, Pharmaceutical Series, woodcut, edition of 48, 40 15/16 x 63 25/32”, 2010.

Vija Celmins, Ocean Surface Woodcut, woodcut, 19 1/4 x 15 3/8”, edition of 50 + 10 AP, 1992.

Sol LeWitt, Loopy Doopy, Blue/Red, oil-based woodcut, 20 5/8× 28 5/8”, edition of 50, 2000. Catalogue Raisonné: 2000.04, NBMAA Collection, 2007.136.234SL.