A Brief History of Wood Engraving

The establishment of wood engraving as a viable art form began with Thomas Bewick (1753 - 1828.)  His work expanded wood engraving from a miniature relief print, to one of sculptural dimensions.  He used a light source to draw attention to the focal point instead of letting the image itself demand central interest.  Also, by using white lines against a dark background, he created a more dimensional and dramatic effect.

In the 19th century, wood engraving became the most prominent means of visual documentation in newspapers and magazines.  Wood engraving was chosen over lithography because it was more cost efficient and over photography because its process had not been developed enough to be practical.  In the late 1800's, a shift in attitude and available technology led reputable wood engravers to become independent artists.

A couple of wood engraving tools and two wood engraving blocks (The Adventures of Mr. Pig (left), and Cotton Bleedin' Pig )

Wood Engraving

Wood engraving is a form of relief printmaking. Cutting away areas of the block produces areas that will not print. An engraved wood block shows the tactile and sculptural nature of relief carving. (The example shown has white chalk pressed into the tiny incised lines to make the marks more visible.) The flat raised relief areas are inked and pressure is applied to transfer ink to paper, resulting in a mirror image impression of the block.

The engraving process involves the use of tools similar to those used in copper engraving. The end-section of the engraving tool is the cutting edge of the blade. The width and shape of the tool’s end-section determines the width and character of the desired line.

Wood engravings utilize the endgrain of trees to attain minute details and maintain them during printing. Endgrain is best illustrated by imagining a cut tree trunk, where the tree’s growth rings are visible. Boxwood is the traditional endgrain used for wood engraving, although maple is most commonly used in North America because of its abundance and price. Other hardwoods used for wood engraving include lemonwood, cherry, pear, maracaibo, castello and hornbeam.

Wood’s gradually rising price has led artists to find other material to engrave. Increasingly, there appears to be a shift in terminology from “wood” engraving to a more generic “relief” engraving. Artists are using several brand name materials such as Corian and Mystera (counter top materials,) Resingrave (a resin composite material,) and some plastics: HIPS (high intensity polystyrene) and Sintra.

The artist "pulls a print" from her 1913 Vandercook proof press.  The inked end grain block sits on the press bed showing the process of transferring the ink to paper to create a print (the red coloring was done by hand for this particular print.)

JOANNE PRICE