The History of Wood Engraving...

This week I explored the web site on The History of Wood Engraving. This site was set up by the University of North Texas and can be found at this address:

http://blackboard.wayne.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_41_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_702202_1%26url%3D

. Admittedly, I found myself surprised when I began to navigate this web site. There were a number of different links leading to everything from notable people in the craft throughout history to Kent Kessinger, the subject of the exhibit. The site was visually stimulating and the examples of the wood engraving prints were extrememly detailed but the information seemed sparse at best and left me less than satisfied.

To begin with, I first clicked on the link that seemed, of course, the most obvious: the Introduction. Here, one will find a wealth of information on the history of the craft, its uses and its main participants and influences. In this processes, trained craftsmen begin by carving out pictorial representations of what it is they want to print. Then, the newly created wooden image is inked and pressed against a piece of paper to transfer the image onto a more manageable medium. Wood engraving closely mimics the modern day stamp in that the raised portions of the original wooden image are what become transferred onto the paper.

One of the first notable artisans in this craft was a man named Thomas Bewick. Bewick was one of the influential craftsmen involved in making wood engraving into an illustrative art form. This process was quick and inexpensive to complete, especially because each engraving could be used multiple times if needed and would create the exact same image with each use so it became popular quite quickly. As demand for its use grew, the concept of wood engraving as an art form began to diminish and soon became just a common procedure for illustration reproduction. Eventually, wood engraving came full circle and became, once again, an artistic practice some time after the 1920’s.

After reading about the history of wood engraving in the introduction, one may want to learn more by clicking on the other links on the main page such as “Early Period”, “Late Period”, “Cover Design”, or “Periodicals”. Unfortunately, the extensive information in the introduction seems to be where said information ends. The rest of the site is mainly pictures and examples of such prints made from wood engraving. The titles “early period” and so on simply refer to when said prints were created, not more of a history of the development of wood engraving, as I believed they did. Continuing through the web site, I clicked on the link called The Works of Kent Kessinger, the gentlemen for which this entire site was created. I will admit, this man’s work was quite beautiful and did move me to go a bit easier on the rest of the site. There were clear and stunning abstract images on the site but I did find myself wondering where the examples of older works, with such realistic imagery and meticulous creation, would fit in with this more modernistic, abstract approach to the process.

I chose to report on this topic because I am an artist at heart and wood engraving seemed to me to be an interesting thing to learn about and experience. Truthfully, I chose this one because my first option was already taken and I wanted a topic that would peek my interest and make me want to actually traverse the site without feeling forced to do the work. My first impression of the site was that it was very simplistic, as though it was set up in a hurry as opposed to meticulously created by a web designer. I felt that the information on the site itself was a bit incomplete but the examples of the art work were beautiful and moving. Such dedication was required to create the wood engravings themselves that I would have been much more satisfied if a similar level of attention to detail and dedication was used for the site itself. Unfortunately, the site was bare and remedially formatted. The layout was simple enough, there were five links on the main page, each directing the viewer to what I previously believed to be different collections of information on wood engraving but, upon further investigation, found were lacking in information. The typography used for the links was easily legible and I believe it was set on the “engraving” style. Conversely, the fact that the words were merely oulines as opposed to dark, solid words made it a bit hard on the eyes when trying to navigate the site as opposed to the title which was bold enough to read without trouble. At the bottom of the page there were more links to different areas of the site including the mother site for UNT. Here it was a bit easier to read the links but the light blue type on the white background gave the words a luminescence that was slightly annoying. Not all of the links had a direct connection with the information on the site but they did have some correlation with the subject matter or, at least, had a connection through the sites “exhibition” quality. For example, one of the links, “Rare Book and Texana Collections” was a link to a different literary exibit that didn’t have anything to do with wood engraving but was still in the same family of art exhibitions. All of the graphic designs were examples of wood engraving prints and nicely complimented the subject matter of the site itself.

I do believe what little information given in this web site is reliable and valid. The site was created to house the more obvious concentration of Kent Kessinger’s artwork and, therefore, wasn’t really an all illumination exploration on the history of wood engraving, as the name implies. Never the less, that which was provided was concise and interesting, providing the surfer with useful information as they studied the various printings on the site. This site highlights the importance of “print” for me. It highlights the usefulness of a master cast of information, and how with the development of the printing press, rapid reproduction began to overshadow hand craftsmanship and art simply for arts sake. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t really explore this concept very deeply at all. Instead, in just a few sentences, it mentions how the practice of wood engraving became a strenuous task of “slavish reproduction” and then went back to an artistic medium later on in history. It would have been more interesting to address when and why such an artistic product became industrial and then morphed back into art. Despite its downfalls, I would recommend my class mates to visit this site because of its information on the notable people in the wood engraving industry. There is a wealth of information on the “Engravers and Illustrators” page, providing people with short histories and blips of information on a number of people through out the development of the process. I would also recommend the site to outsiders mainly for its artistic value. The examples of wood engraving on this site are truly lovely and could inspire other people to create their own personal art.