Finding the best woodcut book suitable for your needs isnt easy. With hundreds of choices can distract you. Knowing whats bad and whats good can be something of a minefield. In this article, weve done the hard work for you.
Reviews
1. Woodcut Notecards
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Used Book in Good ConditionDescription
If there is, indeed, nothing lovelier than a tree, artist Bryan Nash Gill shows us why. In this collection of notecards, based on the book Woodcut, the arboreal rings come to life in exquisite detail, revealing the great beauty and power within each tree. The notecards are contained in a handsome keepsake box, with removable bellyband.2. Woodcut Memory Game
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WOODCUT MEMORY GAMEChronicle
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If there is, indeed, nothing lovelier than a tree, artist Bryan Nash Gill reminds us why. This fun memory game based on his best-selling book, Woodcut, offers twenty-six distinctive woodcut prints (fifty-two pairs) nested in a handsome keepsake box. The arboreal rings come to life in exquisite detail to challenge your mind and beautify your table.3. Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts (Library of America, Nos. 210 & 211)
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Used Book in Good ConditionDescription
From the eve of the Great Depression to the start of World War II, Lynd Ward (19051985) observed the troubled American scene through the double lens of a politically committed storyteller and a visionary graphic artist. His mediumthe wordless novel in woodcutswas his alone, and he quickly brought it from bold iconographic infancy to subtle and still unrivalled mastery.Gods Man (1929), the audaciously ambitious work that made Wards reputation, is a modern morality play, an allegory of the deadly bargain a striving young artist often makes with life. Madmans Drum (1930), a multigenerational saga worthy of Faulkner, traces the legacy of violence haunting a family whose stock in trade is human souls. Wild Pilgrimage (1932), perhaps the most accomplished of these early books, is a study in the brutalization of an American factory worker whose heart can still respond to beauty but whose mind is twisted in rage against the system and its shackles.
Prelude to a Million Years (1933) is a dark meditation on art, inspiration, and the disparity between the ideal and the real. Song Without Words (1936), a protest against the rise of European fascism, asks if ours is a world still fit for the human soul. Vertigo (1937), Wards undisputed masterpiece, is an epic novel on the theme of the individual caught in the downward spiral of a sinking American economy. Its characters include a young violinist, her luckless fianc, and an elderly business magnate whomovingly, and without ever becoming a political caricatureembodies the social forces determining their fate.
The images reproduced in this volume are taken from prints pulled from the original woodblocks or first-generation electrotypes. The Library of America is proud to bring Wards masterworks to a new generation of readers, together with nine illuminating essays about his craft, including those he wrote for the long out-of-print Storyteller Without Words, a 1974 retrospective. Art Spiegelman contributes an introductory essay, Reading Pictures, that defines Wards towering achievement in that most demanding of graphic-story forms, the wordless novel in woodcuts.
4. Woodcut: "Step-by-Step Lessons in Designing, Cutting and Printing the Woodblock"
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Used Book in Good ConditionDescription
Intended for beginners, this book discusses the steps involved from choosing materials to matting the finished print, and offers suggestions on the woods and tools that are best to use5. Woodcut
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Used Book in Good ConditionDescription
If there is, indeed, nothing lovelier than a tree, Connecticut-based artist Bryan Nash Gill shows us why. Creating large-scale relief prints from the cross sections of trees, the artist reveals the sublime power locked inside their arboreal rings. Gill creates patterns not only of great beauty but also year-by-year records of the life and times of fallen or damaged logs. He rescues the wood from the property surrounding his studio and neighboring land, extracts and prepares blocks of various species (including ash, maple, oak, spruce, and willow), then makes prints by carefully following and pressing the contours of rings and ridges until the intricate designs transfer from tree to paper. The results are colored, nuanced shapesmesmerizing impressions of the structural integrity hidden inside each tree. These exquisitely detailed prints are collected and published here for the first time, with an introduction by esteemed nature writer Verlyn Klinkenborg and an interview with the artist describing his labor-intensive printmaking process. Also featured are Gill's series of printed lumber and offcuts, such as burls, branches, knots, and scrubs. Woodcut will appeal to anybody who appreciates the grandeur and mystery of trees, as well as those who work with wood and marvel at the rich history embedded in its growth.6. The City: A Vision in Woodcuts (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)
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"An absolute song for an ongoing visit with timelessness." The New York Times
This graphic novel by an Expressionist master offers a stunning depiction of urban Europe between the world wars. First published in Germany in 1925, it presents unforgettable images from the tense and dynamic Weimar period, rendered in 100 woodcuts of remarkable force and beauty.
A pacifist during World War I, Belgian-born Frans Masereel (1889-1972) sympathized with the struggles of the working classes and strived to make his art accessible to ordinary people. His evocative woodcuts convey scenes of work and leisure, wealth and deprivation, and joy and loneliness. Banned by the Nazis, Masereel's works were championed in Communist countries; however, the artist steered clear of political affiliations. His clarity of vision transcends any propagandist use of the images, which stand as timeless indictments of oppression and injustice.
Thomas Mann described Masereel's works as "so strangely compelling, so deeply felt, so rich in ideas that one never tires of looking at them." Epic and unflinching in its scope, The City continues to influence modern fine and graphic art, while recapturing the mood of a vanished era.
7. Creative Haven Woodcut Designs Coloring Book: Diverse Designs on a Dramatic Black Background (Adult Coloring)
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Re-create the popular appearance of woodcut prints in these beautiful designs to coloring the medium of your choiceDescription
8. The Woodcut Artist's Handbook: Techniques and Tools for Relief Printmaking (Woodcut Artist's Handbook: Techniques & Tools for Relief Printmaking)
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Firefly BooksDescription
Praise for the first edition:
"An indispensable guide for those who make art out of the contrast between light and dark. And, it's a sheer pleasure for everyone else, thanks to its many wonderful illustrations."
-- Artsforum
"Walker's instruction is so clear and well organized that this handbook is perfect for the beginner."
-- American Artist
The history of woodcuts goes back more than a thousand years. Working carefully and with great precision, the woodcut artist carves a mirror image of a design on wood or other suitable material. The design is then inked and pressed against paper. The technique allows the artist to create an almost unlimited number of impressions of the same work. The precision of the work and the ability of the artist to create multiple impressions allow many fine woodcut artists to create pieces at a reasonable price, which an average collector can afford.
The Woodcut Artist's Handbook provides the basics of this craft with a detailed analysis of its tools and media. This improved second edition features two new chapters that teach artists step by step how to make an engraving and linocut. Artists can improve and develop considerable skill in this art by following these instructions and the author's professional tips. Beginners and advanced woodcutters and collectors will gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for this craft and art.
This profusely illustrated book is ideal for artists, printmakers, designers and collectors.