PRESS RELEASE 2017
The Woodcut: From Dürer to Now
8 March – 25 June 2017
De’Longhi Print Room, Free admission
A new exhibition at Pallant House Gallery will
showcase highlights from the Gallery’s acclaimed print
collection to trace the history of the woodcut, from
the Northern Renaissance and the Japanese tradition
of ukiyo-e prints to contemporary artists working
today. The exhibition will include works by artists such
as Albrecht Dürer, Utagawa Hiroshiga, Edward
Wadsworth, Ben Nicholson and contemporary artists
including Rebecca Salter and Emma Stibbons.
Woodcut is a relief printing technique that first
emerged in Japan in the 8th century. Cruder versions
of woodcuts began to appear in Europe around the
13th century and developed considerably with the
advent of mass-production of paper a century later.
The western tradition of the woodcut is often said to
have culminated in the late 15th century with the work
of Albrecht Dürer who achieved stunning details in his
woodblock designs.
It is unlikely that Dürer cut any woodblocks himself but
having trained in Michael Wolgemut’s Nuremberg
studio (then the centre of German publishing) he
gained a great understanding of the technique’s
potential and how to work with the master block
cutters. The image ‘Repose on the Flight into Egypt’ (c.
1504), featured in the exhibition, is one of his series
of woodcuts illustrating The Life of the Virgin. In spite
of the traditional subject matter, his treatment of the
theme was revolutionary in approach, size, and
subtlety of technique. Dürer’s interest in scientific
theories of perspective can also be seen in the
elaborate architectural forms in the background.
By the end of the 16th century, the woodcut began to
fall out of favour in Europe due to new technological
printing processes that favoured engravings. In Japan
however, the woodcut printing technique known as
mokuhanga continued to develop. Best known for its
use in the ukiyo-e (loosely translated as ‘pictures of a
Nana Shiomi, One Hundred Views of Mitate No.88 - Great Buddha,
2011, Woodcut in the ukiyo-e tradition on paper, Pallant House
Gallery, Chichester (The Golder - Thompson Gift, 2014), © Nana
Shiomi
floating world’) artistic genre, mokuhanga used waterbased inks, which provide a wider range of vivid
colours, glazes and transparency than the oil-based
inks often used in western woodcuts. The prints
created using these inks demonstrated extraordinary
technical skill. An example of this can be seen in
Utagawa Hiroshige’s ‘Travellers surprised by sudden
rain (Shono haku-u)’ (1833-34), part of his most
famous series 'The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido
Road' (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi) (1834). The
print demonstrates Hiroshige’s sensitive treatment of
light and colour, particularly the effects of falling rain.
Both European and Japanese woodcut traditions were
initially reliant on a collaborative system that included
artists and designers as well as carvers and printers
who often went unacknowledged. By the early 20th
century, both were struggling with competition from
INTERVIEWS/ IMAGES: Sarah Jackson, Communications Officer [email protected] 01243 770831 / 07810 173 655 and Anna
Zeuner, Head of Communications [email protected] 01243 770 823 / 07734 710 212
PRESS RELEASE 2017
mechanical processes such as lithography and
photography.
In Japan one response to this threat was the
movement Sosaku Hanga which stressed the artist as
the sole creator as opposed to the traditional
collaborative system of artist, carver, printer and
publisher. Contemporary Japanese artist Nana Shiomi’s
work is rooted in this tradition as she carves and prints
her work entirely herself.
British artist Rebecca Salter also studied traditional
techniques in printmaking in Japan, but at Kyoto City
University of Arts. Historically, woodcuts produced in
Kyoto have had a more painterly quality than that of
Tokyo. This trait can be seen in her works ‘Celest 1’ and
‘Celest 2’ which were produced in collaboration with
the Sato Woodblock Workshop in Kyoto. Salter
presented the workers there with two watercolours
painted on muslin and asked them to interpret them as
a woodcut. The finished prints are a tour de force of
the kind of painterly printmaking Kyoto is known for.
Early 20th century western artists too began to reevaluate the woodcut. Artists associated with
vorticism and abstractism including Edward
Wadsworth, Ben Nicholson and John Buckland-Wright
used this traditional printing technique to create
radical new artworks. The composition of Ben
Nicholson’s '5 Circles' (1934) has been suggested to
loosely represent a tabletop still life, but Nicholson's
playful evocation of projection and recession using the
woodcut technique also parallels his experiments with
abstract reliefs dating from the same period.
Pallant House Gallery is a unique combination of an
historic Queen Anne townhouse and contemporary
extension, housing one of the best collections of
Modern British art in the country. Widely acclaimed for
its innovative temporary exhibitions and exemplary
Learning and Community Programme which has
inclusion at its heart, the Gallery has won numerous
awards since re-opening in 2006, including the
Gulbenkian Prize, the largest for arts and cultural
organisations in the country.
www.pallant.org.uk
About De’Longhi:
De'Longhi is Pallant House Gallery’s headline sponsor
as part of the brand’s continued support of the arts
and local community. De'Longhi, makers of premium
Italian coffee machines and other aspirational
household appliances, established links with the
Gallery for the first time in 2009 through a partnership
that included a variety of creative projects throughout
the year. De'Longhi continues to contribute to the
work of the Gallery through its sponsorship of the
De’Longhi Print Room, which features a variety of
dynamic exhibitions. For more information about
De'Longhi visit www.seriousaboutcoffee.com
The Woodcut: From Dürer to Now will be on display in
the De’Longhi Print Room at Pallant House Gallery
from 8 March – 25 June 2017. Entry to the De’Longhi
Print Room is free.
--Ends—
About Pallant House Gallery:
INTERVIEWS/ IMAGES: Sarah Jackson, Communications Officer [email protected] 01243 770831 / 07810 173 655 and Anna
Zeuner, Head of Communications [email protected] 01243 770 823 / 07734 710 212