WOOD ENGRAVING

Technique

Wood engraving, or woodcutting, appeared in Europe at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It appeared in the workshops of woodcarvers and clothiers.

Wood engraving refers to the technique of letterpress printing, one of the three types of engraving. Woodblocks, usually pear or beech, are used for woodcuts. Early woodcuts, called longitudinal or trimmed woodcuts, used longitudinally sawn boards. Such boards could reach large sizes. Since the wood fibers ran parallel to the surface, each line of the drawing on the board was cut on both sides with a sharp knife, and the background was removed. A kind of relief of the line drawing was obtained, on which the paint was applied. The sheet of paper was rubbed against the board with a rag or a special bone for rubbing paper and the print was obtained. Later, a printing press was used to print engravings. Because woodblock printing was closely connected with book printing, very early in this technique there was a division of labor. The artist created the drawing, the carver cut the engraving, and the printer made impressions from the boards in the print shop. Experienced woodcut masters were well aware of the peculiarities of woodcarving and took them into account when creating drawings for woodcut engravings. It is known that A. Dürer, studying in the workshop of M. Wolgemuth, as well as during his travels through the German lands, repeatedly participated in the work of carvers. Having become an independent artist, he had his own master carvers working under his supervision. Dürer attached great importance to the quality of prints, so he always monitored the work of the printers until he achieved the desired effect.

When working in woodcut engraving, certain difficulties arise, as the resistance of the fibrous material to the knife is uneven in different parts of the board. The relief lines of the pattern carved on the board are very fragile. From frequent use of the board (circulation) they began to break and fall out, and voids were formed in the composition. Gradually the images died, and the boards were thrown away, so few old boards have survived to this day.

But, unlike the deep engraving, a wooden board with an image carved on it is close to a typesetting. The picture lays well on the page of a book next to the text and is often used in book illustration.

For my work, I took images of two engravings by the famous master

Hans Burgkmayr the Elder. 1473-1531 Germany

I chose the engravings that interest me from his series of works on the theme of grief and punishment.

I slightly violated the approach because I had a different goal and did not try to print from the engraving. I wanted to apply these images by burning a part of a checkerboard box, backgammon, checkers on the background. So I took the images of the engravings and applied pyrography. It's certainly a different technique, but somehow I wanted to combine three techniques, carving, engraving and burning.

My Wood Engraving Process

Project Progress: Combining Engraving with Pyrography

More images and history:

Hans Burgkmayr's Original Works

The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Virtues

Sins

DIE HOFART — PRIDE.
UNKEISCH — UNCHASTITY or IMPURITY.
DIE GEIZIKAIT — GREED.
DIE FRESSEKIT (likely a variation of DIE FRESSGIER) — GLUTTONY.
DER ZORN — WRATH.
DIE TRÄGKAIT — SLOTH.

Virtues

DER GLAVB — FAITH.
DIE HOFFNUNG — HOPE.
DIE LIEBE — LOVE.
DIE STETICK (probably meant DIE STETIGKEIT) — CONSTANCY or STEADFASTNESS.
DIE FIRSICHTIKAIT (likely a misspelling of DIE VORSICHTIGKEIT) — PRUDENCE or CAUTION.
DIE GERICHTIKAIT — JUSTICE.
DIE MESIKAIT (probably a distortion of DIE MÄßIGKEIT) — MODERATION or TEMPERANCE.