Here’s another wood engraver from the past whose technical proficiency amazes me. He spent his entire career in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s interpreting the work of master painters like Constable and Hogarth. I happen to have in my possession his engraving of Mona Lisa, signed by him in pencil. It’s printed on a delicate kind of Japanese tissue and seems very fragile but the impression is perfect and allows for first hand scrutiny on how he made his cuts. Check out the detail on Mona Lisa’s face by clicking on the image to enlarge. And here’s a snippet of a letter he wrote to someone saying that he is trying his second attempt at engraving this image and will do a third if it doesn’t turn out.

What kept his talent in demand by magazine publishers of the day was the fact that photo reproduction technology hadn’t been tuned up enough at that time. When it finally got sorted out, Cole and other engravers like him were out of a job because they were in essence mechanical reproduction artists interpreting the paintings and illustrations of other artists with shades of gray and texture on the engraving block for use in publications.

The actual print is 6.25 inches (16 cm) wide and 9.125 (23 cm) high. Timothy Cole certainly stands out as a master engraver with a gift for interpreting the work of master painters within the humble context of wood engraving.

I read somewhere that he was also an avid nudist. Hope he wasn’t running around his colony with sharpened gravers.

Here’s the dreaded multiple tool. I say this because it’s a wood engraving tool that, if not used judiciously can make the resulting print look too mechanical.

The idea behind it is that it cuts two or more parallel lines at once, depending on the line count on the graver ( the one shown here cuts six lines at once). So  rather than using a tint tool to lay down lines side by side using your eyeball the multiple tool will give perfectly spaced cuts.

This is a magnified view of the underbelly and tip of the graver. Here we can count six points that will cut the lines as it is pushed across the woodblock surface.

A famous practitioner of this esoteric tool was Hans Mueller, an American illustrator from the 1930’s and 40’s. He published a beautiful book called Woodcuts & Wood Engravings ~ How I make Them. I remember my brother chiding me years ago because I found it hard to accept the $60 I had to pay to buy a used volume from an antiquarian. A laughable sum today.

Mueller often made engravings almost entirely with this tool using it to give form to elements in his design.

Pictured here is a detail of a wood engraving by him that was done almost with just the multiple graver.

You can click on the image for an larger view.

He was also known for making three and four colour wood engravings using the pinhole registration technique. I’ll do an article about it at some point.

Over the years I’ve wondered about using a chop on my prints. I do like the appearance when other artists use them on their work although I wouldn’t necessarily  incorporate it with the actual print. Presently I do use a embosser for my wood engravings which I’m not hundred percent happy with.

Anyway, I made a chop on the end of a piece of boxwood. Here you see it next to a small dish of cinnabar which is the traditional (and toxic) ’stamp pad’ used by oriental artists to sign prints, etc. These are available in any Chinatown gift store.

My design is in reference to pagan symbolism and an acknowledgment of the ancient religious practices of the Baltic peoples, my heritage. This is before the Christian crusaders came from Germany and butchered many a Latvian and Lithuanian in their attempt to baptize the peasants beginning in 1200.

By the way, the term ‘peasant’ isn’t meant to be pejorative in any way. I’m happy to know I’m related to people that worked the land with a humble respect for the power of nature.

Here’s the resulting chop. The bottom line represents Mother Earth with an all encompassing tent shape connecting to Dievs, the Latvian God. The dot at the top symbolizes the sun.

Imagine the police arriving at your studio to arrest you for making a woodblock print of your national flag. That’s what happened to Paljor Norbu, an 81 year old Tibetan printmaker last October.

The Chinese occupation of Tibet is obviously sinking to new depths to protect their illegal control of Tibet. It’s not enough to kill protesting Tibetan monks, the Chinese oligarchy deems it necessary to imprison old men as practicing artists who dare to challenge those who have imprisoned an entire culture.

Here’s a quote from the Tibet watchdog site;

“A descendant of a family with a long history of printing and publishing Buddhist texts for monasteries, Norbu is an internationally renowned master printer. He used both modern and traditional woodblock printing techniques in his workshop, which employed several dozen workers. In addition to religious texts, the shop printed prayer flags, folk reproductions, books, leaflets, and traditional literature.

After Norbu’s arrest, the police closed his shop, affixed notices of official closure on the door, and prohibited employees from returning. The police also confiscated books and woodblocks from the shop’s collection.” – tibetcustom.com

Once in awhile I’ll leave my studio and actually engage in the world of bricks and mortar. This past Saturday I shared a sales table with my jeweler friend Sharon Edmunds at the KIAC christmas fair.

Lots of folks and good discussion on wood engravings and how I make them. Happy to say many left with an image or two tucked under their arm. And I’m not talking ‘five finger discount’.

Thanks to Glenda for the photo.