A Short History of Wood Engraving by James Horton

A Short History of Wood Engraving

The progress of human civilization created a demand for information. Gutenberg's innovation of the use of movable type was a step in that evolution. There also emerged a need to reproduce images. Wood, became the first medium for printmaking.

The earliest known European woodcut was the St. Christopher, dated 1423. The subjects were often religious, and used as souvenirs of pilgrimages to the shrines of saints.The Germans, such as Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) and the Formschneider engravers raised the woodcut to a fine art .

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw woodcut decline to a crude manner, often used in what were called "Chapbooks." They were popular with people, and were effective means to illustrate fables and the journalism of the time.

Thomas Bewick (1753-1828). A British engraver, Bewick developed the use of the medium as an end-grain process to it's potential. His small vignettes, illustrations of birds and animals are masterpieces of engraving. Bewick's apprentices spread the craft throughout England, and lead to the Victorian era demand for fine illustration. In America, a physician, Alexander Anderson (1775-1870) brought the craft to a fine art as well.

The practice of wood engraving was a natural for Newspaper, book and periodical illustration. It was the only printing medium that could be simultaneously printed with type as text. It also became prevalent in commercial graphics. For example, the publication in 1842 of The Illustrated London News attracted worldwide attention and demand. The beauty and excellence of the engravings are unsurpassed in the history of art, as images which captured the spirit of the human drama. Often, copies of engravings were cast in metal for duplication. These duplicates called Stereotypes could be sent throughout the world for journalistic purposes.

In America, engravers were also active. Publications such as Leslie's Popular Monthly, Harpers, Scribner's and The Century Magazine featured the engravings of famed Timothy Cole and the leading engravers of the day. Examine a wood engraving with magnification. You will see the tool marks rendered as fine lines as opposed to the dots of a halftone. Frequently the engraver signed his name and added an "SC" which stood for sculptor.

Photographic processes eventually curtailed the use of wood engraving as an industry, although it maintained a niche in the commercial field well into the 20th century, especially for catalogue illustration. What did evolve, was the use of wood engraving as a fine art. The turn of the century saw the era of private presses use wood engraving again as fine book illustration and limited edition prints ( those purely for the sake of the beauty of the print and the personal vision of the artist-engraver). That tradition continues today.