woodcut

A Japanese woodblock print of an archer firing at a target by Japanese artist Kuniyoshi. A print of this sort is made by cutting away, on a pine block, those parts of a picture that will remain white, and coating the raised, uncut, surfaces with ink. Paper is pressed on the block and the image is transferred to the paper.

Woodcut of a rhinoceros (1515), by German painter and engraver Albrecht Dürer. Dürer trained first as a woodcut artist, perfecting the technique to a high degree of detail. His first great series comprised the illustrations to the ‘Apocalypse’, which was full of fantastic gothic images. However, Dürer also achieved realistic drawings from nature.

Print made by a woodblock in which a picture or design has been cut in relief. Areas that are intended to be white are cut away leaving the raised remainder to catch and transfer the ink, which is usually black. The woodcut is the oldest method of printing, invented in China in the 5th century AD. In the Middle Ages woodcuts became popular in Europe, initially for printing playing cards and block books, and later for more artistic applications, as in the work of German artist Albrecht Dürer.

Multicoloured woodblock prints were developed in Japan in the mid-18th century. In England William Morris and others revived the technique in the 19th century, and the German expressionists exploited its strong impact in the early 20th century.

Wood engraving is an allied but finer technique, the cuts being made across the end-grain of a block. The English artist Thomas Bewick was one of the first exponents of wood engraving.