Anne Desmet, RA

Ashmolean Museum Publications

ISBN: 9781910807378
Paperback
Size: 8.75 in x 11 in
Pages: 256
Illustrations: 294 color, 5 b&w

• Covers the entire history of wood engraving, including every major artist of the genre

In this publication celebrating the history and global spread of wood engraving over the last 100 years is art by Henry Moore and Gertrude Hermes, John and Paul Nash, Eric Gill, Lucien Pissarro, M.C. Escher and more recent outstanding figures such as Edwina Ellis, Simon Brett and Anne Desmet (who also curated the exhibition from which this book is derived). It also celebrates the 100th Centenary of the Society of Wood Engravers. .

Works by Albrecht Dürer and William Blake provide historical perspective. But the technique itself was created by Thomas Bewick in the 1880's.  Rather than using woodcarving tools such as knives, Bewick devised an engraver's burin with which delicate lines could be created, allowing for use of the wood's end grain.

England's Ashmolean (the museum for the University of Oxford)  is the repository for one of the world's most extensive collections of wood engravings and it includes nearly every artist of note working in the genre. The new book is a welcome resource to be used by the expert as well as the novice. The publication provides, in addition,  a fascinating account of how this collection has grown in modern times.