The color block print in America had its beginnings in the 1890s, roughly corresponding with the interest in Japonisme and the Arts and Crafts movement that occurred in Europe and America in the late 19th century.

There were a number of factors that fueled interest in the medium by the artists in this country, not the least of which was its rural population at that time. In order to create a woodcut all you needed, besides the desire, was a plank, some gouges and cutting tools, ink and paper and a baren or wooden spoon and you could begin. There was no need for expensive presses, heavy lithography stones, acids or copper, all of which were available in metropolitan areas but difficult to find in rural America. An artist, with a few common materials, could enter the excitement of the 20th century that was so evident in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Color prints made up a great number of the graphic arts entries at the expo and most of those were color block prints with most artists winning awards (Gustave Baumann won the gold medal in printmaking for his color woodcuts). It was at this world expo where many artists got their first look at color prints from around the world including Europe and Asia.

Through the 1920s and 1930s most of the centers for color block prints were in rural areas of Provincetown, Massachusetts; Woodstock, New York; South Carolina; Michigan; Indiana; Kansas; New Mexico; Colorado; the Pacific Northwest; and Hawaii. In California, the centers were the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara and Pasadena. Color block prints were also produced in the various WPA projects in the late 1930s.

Various methods of making color block prints developed and the earliest was the use of multiple blocks. This is a process where the artist/craftsman carves away the area of the block that is not meant to print. The resulting relief is then inked and printed. Each color requires a new block, which then has to be printed exactly over the previous color(s) to stay in register. This requires great skill and practice to perfect.

The earliest color block prints were done in the Japanese method. The Japanese produced their Ukiyo-e woodcuts in a collaborative process. The artist, who was the only person to get recognition, drew and colored the design on a fine Japanese paper. The design was given to a professional carver who then carved the blocks for each required color. The blocks were then turned over to a professional printer whose job it was to print the blocks to achieve the result the artist sought. Each impression was printed by hand using a baren. Add to this mix a publisher to foot the bill and it became a well-run business, capable of producing thousands of prints. Keep in mind Ukiyo-e prints were not considered art in Japan and the idea of creating a limited edition did not even exist.

Multiple blocks were also used in the European or Western method. The blocks were often inked with oil-based inks and printed on Western papers using a press. Unlike their Japanese counterparts, the printmakers in the Western world did not have the luxury of superior craftsmen steeped in centuries of traditional carving and printing. They had do it all themselves and they had to learn about their materials, e.g. where to purchase quality papers, what woods had the best qualities for carving and printing, and what inks suited both paper and wood. Western printmakers also had to design their studios to be able to print efficiently. This resulted in much experimentation with materials, size, tools, and basic techniques and developed into a broad use of the medium during the 20th century.

The introduction of color woodcut in America is generally attributed to Arthur Wesley Dow who began making wood block prints in 1891. He had strong ideas about overall design and aesthetics that he explored throughout his lifetime in a variety of mediums, and passed on to others through lecturing, writing, and teaching. Dow’s woodcuts are particularly important because he recognized them as an ideal medium for exploring color, his ideas about the arts and crafts movement and Japonisme. His theories formed the basis for art instruction in American schools for decades.

The single block, or “white line” method was developed in Provincetown, Massachusetts in the early part of the 20th century. This method employed one block and it involved a negative key line incised around the design elements that would result in a white line when the block was printed. The artist colored the separate relief areas and hand printed each impression using a baren or a wooden spoon. The resulting impressions varied in colors.

Bertha Lum developed a unique method in China, creating a woodcut that had a raised line and was then colored by hand. The reduction block print was another method using a single block. It was developed in the 1950s and popularized by Picasso using linoleum blocks in the early 1960s. This method uses a system of carving and printing the remaining relief areas of a single block. Each color requires carving of the same block further reducing the image size. The image area on the block often barely exists by the final carving and it is impossible to go back at any stage of the process.

Artists in the latter half of the 20th century experimented with combinations of media, paper, size, etc. The use of the reduction method developed in the 50's is used now by a number of printmakers, in innovative ways.  The relief prints of the 50's and 60's saw the use of the additive relief print, often using chipboard to build the relief on the plate surface.  The "cardboard" could be sanded or scraped to create textures that could not be easily attained in wood.  The prints of the 60's and later have gotten larger with the innovations in printing presses, inks and the ability to get larger sheets of paper.  Several plywood manufacturers began to lmanufacture special sheets of 4 x 8 foot plywood (or larger), laminated with surface wood to the artist's specs.  The printer/publisher Crown Point Press returned to the Ukiyo'e tradition of using professional carvers and printers in Japan and some US printers began doing the same here.

We hope you enjoy the exhibition.