Black Bear from Cascadia by Richard Wagener

Black Bear from Cascadia by Richard Wagener

Black Bear from Cascadia

Richard Wagener

Title

Black Bear from Cascadia

 
Artist

Richard Wagener

  1944 - PRESENT (biography)
Year
2020  
Technique
woodengraving 
Image Size
3 15/16 x 4 3/16" image 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
4 of 28  
Annotations
pencil dated and editioned; pencil titled on verso 
Reference
 
Paper
ivory Zerkall wove 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
RW182 
Price
SOLD
Description

This is a compelling portrait of the American black bear with its thick black coat and lighter snout, staring at and almost daring the viewer, done using wood-engraving. A notable American wood engraver, Richard Wagener's works are held in over 100 public collections in the United States and England. He was awarded the Oscar Lewis Award for contributions to the book arts.

The black bear is native to North America and typically lives in forested areas but will roam in search of food. Wagener engraves each line individually into the end-grain of the block, not with a multiple line tool. When asked if he had encountered this bear in the wild, Wagener responded:

“The Black Bear engraving was based on photographs taken at zoos and an unfinished engraving that I started many years ago. Trust me, if I encountered this bear in the wild, my first thought would not be to take a photograph.”

Black Bear is one of twenty-six wood-engravings Wagener produced for the 2021 book Cascadia. According to the Nawakum Press website, Cascadia is a contemplative exploration and celebration of wild places in the Pacific Northwest. This book is a remembrance of what was lost, an appreciation of what is left, and a celebration of what could be. Forests are not eternal. For all their solemn stillness, they constantly change, evolve, die, and regrow. But they are persistent, and they always strive to return to an intricacy that is both evocative and instructive. William Dietrich wrote a prose mediation The Lost Forest and Christopher Herold contributed thirty haiku poems.