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Linocut

Linocut is a relief printmaking technique in which an artist carves a design into a sheet of linoleum, inks the raised surface, and transfers the image to paper by pressing it manually or with a press, resulting in prints characterized by bold, flat areas of color and clean lines.^[1]^[2] Unlike woodcuts, linoleum lacks natural grain, allowing for smoother cuts in any direction and a wider variety of effects, while its softer composition makes it easier and more accessible for carving compared to wood.^[3]^[4] Invented as a floor covering in the mid-19th century from linseed oil, cork dust, and other materials on a canvas backing, linoleum was adapted for artistic use around 1910 as a cheaper, more forgiving alternative to traditional woodblock printing.^[2]^[5] By the early 20th century, it gained popularity among both amateur and professional artists for its low cost, directness, and versatility, particularly in educational settings and among modernists seeking simplified forms.^[6]^[7] The process typically involves sketching a design on the linoleum block, using gouges or chisels to remove non-image areas and create the relief, rolling ink evenly across the surface with a brayer, and then pressing damp paper onto the block to capture the inked design—often in multiple colors by registering successive layers from the same or separate blocks.^[8]^[1] This method's emphasis on reduction (progressively carving away the block for each color layer) enables complex, multi-hued compositions while maintaining the technique's hallmark stark contrasts and graphic quality.^[9] Linocut flourished in the interwar period and beyond, with pioneers like British artist Claude Flight promoting it through manuals and teaching color linocut in the 1920s and 1930s, influencing movements such as the Grosvenor School of modern art.^[10] Notable adopters include Henri Matisse, who employed it for bold, simplified forms in the late 1930s, and it later became vital in contexts like South African printmaking at Rorke's Drift from the 1960s onward, where its affordability supported socially engaged art amid political upheaval.^[11]^[7] Today, linocut remains a favored medium for its tactile immediacy and adaptability in contemporary fine art, illustration, and activist graphics.^[6]

History

Origins and Invention

Linoleum, the material essential to linocut printing, was invented by English manufacturer Frederick Walton in 1863 as a durable floor covering. Walton patented the process after observing the formation of a rubbery skin on oxidized linseed oil in 1855, leading him to develop a composition primarily of oxidized linseed oil (known as linoxyn), ground cork dust for texture, and a jute or canvas backing for stability. This innovation addressed the need for an affordable, water-resistant alternative to traditional oilcloth, quickly gaining popularity for domestic and industrial flooring.^[12]^[13] By the early 1900s, linoleum blocks began to be adapted for relief printing applications, initially in commercial contexts rather than fine art. Manufacturers in Germany and elsewhere employed linoleum for creating patterned wallpapers and textiles, leveraging its uniform surface to produce repeatable designs more efficiently than wooden blocks. This marked the practical origins of linocut as a technique, predating its widespread artistic adoption and demonstrating its utility in industrial pattern printing.^[14] Compared to traditional woodcut, linoleum offered significant advantages that facilitated its transition to printing: its softer, more pliable texture allowed for easier carving with basic tools, while the absence of wood grain eliminated directional limitations and reduced the risk of splitting during incision. These qualities made linocut particularly accessible for beginners and commercial producers, enabling cleaner lines and a broader range of effects without the technical demands of harder woods. Early experimenters adapted these properties from woodcut traditions to simplify relief printing for both utilitarian and exploratory purposes.^[3]^[15]

Early Development in Europe

The refinement of linocut as an artistic medium began in the early 20th century, building on the invention of linoleum in Britain during the 1860s as a durable floor covering made from linseed oil, cork dust, and other natural materials.^[16] Czech artist Emil Orlik emerged as a key pioneer around 1901, creating a series of three linocuts that depicted the stages of traditional Japanese woodblock printing, highlighting the technique's accessibility for artists seeking bold, graphic lines without the need for specialized woodworking skills.^[17] Orlik's experiments demonstrated linocut's potential for straightforward relief printing, making it appealing to those influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e aesthetics and the emerging Jugendstil movement, and his work helped establish it as a viable alternative to woodcut in European studios.^[17] By the 1910s, linocut gained traction among German Expressionists, particularly members of the Die Brücke group founded in Dresden in 1905, who valued its capacity for stark contrasts and raw emotional expression.^[15] Artists such as Erich Heckel, who produced one of the earliest documented linocuts in 1903, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner employed the medium to carve vigorous, distorted forms that captured the intensity of modern urban life and inner turmoil, often printing in black ink on simple paper to emphasize dramatic silhouettes.^[15] This adoption aligned with the group's rejection of academic traditions, using linocut's forgiving surface to achieve the jagged, energetic lines synonymous with Expressionism. In Britain during the 1920s and 1930s, the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London further popularized linocut through the teachings of Claude Flight, who joined as a tutor in 1926 and advocated for its use in capturing rhythmic movement and vibrant color.^[18] Flight's handbook Lino-cuts: A Hand-book of Linoleum-cut Colour Printing (1927) instructed students on multi-block color printing, emphasizing fluid, dynamic compositions inspired by modern life, as seen in his own work Speed (c. 1922), which depicts a bustling London omnibus with sweeping lines and layered hues.^[18] Under his guidance, artists like Cyril Power and Sybil Andrews produced linocuts that stressed pattern and tempo, often registering colors from separate blocks to achieve a sense of motion.^[18] The medium's affordability contributed to linocut's influence on Art Deco and modernist graphics across Europe, where it appeared in bold posters and book illustrations evoking geometric elegance and everyday vitality.^[5] For instance, Grosvenor School artists created posters like Power's The Eight (1930), promoting cultural events with rhythmic figures and saturated colors that epitomized the era's decorative optimism.^[19]

Emergence and Growth in America

The introduction of linocut to the United States occurred in 1911, when Czech émigré artist Vojtěch Preissig displayed "linoleum art" in New York City, marking the first public exhibition of the medium in America and sparking initial interest among local printmakers.^[20] Preissig, who had experimented with the technique in Europe, brought his expertise to the U.S. after immigrating in 1910, using linocut to create bold, graphic works influenced by Art Nouveau and symbolism. This debut helped establish linocut as an accessible alternative to woodcut, appealing to both professional artists and hobbyists seeking a simpler carving process.^[21] In the 1920s and 1930s, American art educator Pedro Joseph de Lemos played a pivotal role in promoting linocut through his instructional books and classes in California, positioning the medium as an ideal pursuit for amateurs and students. De Lemos, who served as director of the Stanford Art Gallery and taught at institutions like the University of California, Berkeley, authored key texts such as Linoleum Block Printing (1927), part of the Beacon Handicraft Series, which provided step-by-step guidance on techniques and emphasized its affordability and ease for home use.^[22] His efforts democratized the practice, integrating linocut into school curricula and community workshops, where it fostered creative expression without requiring expensive tools.^[23] The Great Depression era saw significant growth in linocut under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) programs of the 1930s, as federal support for the arts enabled artists to produce socially relevant prints on a larger scale, often depicting American life and labor. WPA graphic workshops across the country, including those in New York and Cleveland, encouraged linocut for its low cost and versatility, resulting in thousands of prints distributed to schools and libraries to promote cultural access.^[24] Artists like Hale Woodruff utilized the medium for powerful, monochromatic works such as Young Buck (ca. 1938), capturing rural themes with stark contrasts suitable for mass reproduction. This period's emphasis on relief printing aligned with linocut's strengths, contrasting with European influences like the dynamic, machine-age styles of the Grosvenor School of Art in London.^[25] Post-World War II innovations further advanced linocut in America, exemplified by Walter Inglis Anderson's creation of large-scale color linocuts around 1943–1945, which pushed the medium's boundaries through intricate, nature-inspired designs printed on wallpaper backs. Anderson, working in Mississippi, produced nearly 300 such blocks between 1945 and 1949, often using surplus battleship linoleum to achieve expansive compositions depicting Gulf Coast wildlife and folklore. These works, pioneering in their size and multi-block color registration, were first publicly exhibited in 1949 at the Brooklyn Museum, following a 1948 showing at the Brooks Art Gallery in Memphis, highlighting linocut's potential for bold, decorative applications.^[26]^[27]

Mid-20th Century Revival and Global Spread

Following World War II, linocut experienced a notable resurgence in Europe, driven by prominent artists who expanded its technical possibilities and artistic potential. Pablo Picasso began experimenting with linocut as early as 1939 but intensified his work in the 1950s and 1960s, innovating the reduction method for multi-color prints. This technique involved progressively carving and printing from a single block, layering colors in sequence without separate blocks for each hue, allowing for complex compositions with fewer materials. A seminal example is his Still Life under the Lamp (1962), a vibrant multi-color linocut that exemplifies the method's capacity for depth and tonal variation through successive reductions.^[28]^[29] Henri Matisse, in his late career during the 1930s and 1940s, also turned to linocut for book illustrations, such as the illustrations for Pasiphaé (1944), leveraging its bold, simplified forms to convey essential shapes and contrasts. Confined by health issues, Matisse produced linocuts that emphasized graphic clarity and expressive outlines, as seen in works for literary editions where the medium's stark relief suited his abstracted style. These efforts, alongside Picasso's, elevated linocut from a utilitarian craft to a sophisticated fine art form, inspiring broader artistic adoption.^[30]^[25]^[31] The technique's global spread accelerated in the post-war era, reaching indigenous and folk traditions outside Europe. In Canada, Inuit artists in Cape Dorset adapted linocut starting in the late 1950s, influenced by James Houston's introduction of printmaking techniques originally derived from stone-cut methods. This adaptation facilitated economical production of narrative scenes from daily life, integrating linocut into community cooperatives for cultural preservation and economic sustainability.^[32]^[33] In Latin America, particularly Mexico, linocut gained traction through the Taller de Gráfica Popular (founded 1937), where artists like Leopoldo Méndez employed it for socially charged folk-inspired prints addressing labor and indigenous themes during the mid-20th century.^[34] Similarly, in Asia, linocut was adopted for folk art in regions like China and India, blending with local woodblock traditions to produce affordable posters and illustrations that propagated cultural motifs and propaganda in the post-colonial period.^[35] Enhanced accessibility contributed to this worldwide revival, as commercial production of battleship gray linoleum sheets—thicker, durable industrial variants—became widely available after the 1950s. These standardized sheets, originally for flooring, offered artists a consistent, carveable surface that democratized linocut beyond specialized workshops, fostering experimentation in educational and community settings globally.^[36]

Technique and Materials

Essential Materials

Linocut printmaking requires a selection of specialized materials to facilitate the carving and transfer of designs from a linoleum block to paper. The core material is linoleum, a resilient yet carveable surface originally developed in the 19th century as a floor covering before its adaptation for artistic relief printing.^[37] Traditional battleship linoleum, known for its dense and firm composition made from oxidized linseed oil, cork, and resins on a burlap backing, provides durability for detailed work but demands more physical effort during carving due to its hardness. In contrast, modern artists' linoleum, such as Speedball's Speedy-Carve or similar softer variants, incorporates synthetic materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for easier cutting and reduced crumbling, making it ideal for beginners and intricate designs while maintaining print quality. These variations allow artists to choose based on the desired level of detail and carving ease, with softer blocks often preferred for their accessibility. Carving tools are essential for removing non-printing areas from the linoleum to create raised relief surfaces. Gouges with U-shaped blades excel at clearing broad spaces efficiently, while V-shaped blades produce fine lines and sharp edges for detailed outlines. These blades are typically mounted on ergonomic handles, often made of wood or plastic, to provide secure grip and interchangeable options for versatility. Safety is paramount when using these sharp tools; artists should always carve away from their body, secure the block with a bench hook to stabilize it, and keep hands positioned behind the blade to minimize injury risk.^[38]^[39] Inks suitable for linocut are formulated for relief printing to adhere well to the raised surfaces without bleeding into carved areas. Oil-based relief inks, such as those from Speedball or Caligo Safe Wash, offer rich pigmentation and longevity on paper, with the latter variant allowing cleanup using soap and water for environmental and practical benefits.^[40] Water-based inks, like Essdee Premium, provide a non-toxic alternative that dries faster and cleans easily with water, though they may require testing for vibrancy on specific surfaces. For even application, brayers—soft rubber rollers—are used to roll ink across the block, ensuring uniform coverage without excess buildup in fine details.^[40]^[41] The final transfer of the inked image relies on appropriate printing surfaces and aids. Printmaking papers, such as 100% cotton rag varieties like BFK Rives, are preferred for their absorbency and strength; dampening the paper slightly enhances ink absorption and detail transfer, particularly for hand-printed works.^[42] To apply pressure, a baren—a flat, handheld tool with a flexible surface—allows manual rubbing for even impression, while small presses provide consistent force for larger blocks or professional results.^[43] These elements collectively ensure crisp, repeatable prints from the carved linoleum.

Basic Printing Process

The basic printing process for a single-color linocut involves several sequential steps, beginning with the preparation of the design on the linoleum block. Artists draw the image directly onto the linoleum surface using a pencil, or transfer it via tracing paper or carbon paper for precision, ensuring that any included text is rendered in mirror image to account for the reversal that occurs during printing. This step allows for adjustments to the composition before carving begins, emphasizing bold lines and high-contrast areas suitable for relief printing.^[44] Carving follows, where the negative spaces—those areas that will remain unprinted—are removed from the linoleum to leave the positive image raised. Specialized gouges and knives are used, starting with broader tools to excise large shapes and progressing to finer ones for details, always carving away from the body for safety, often secured on a bench hook. If the linoleum is firm or cold, it can be softened by gentle heating with a warm iron or hot water bottle covered in fabric to facilitate easier cutting without damaging the surface. The linoleum's relative softness compared to wood makes this process more accessible, though care is taken to avoid undercutting the raised areas.^[44]^[45]^[1] Once carved, the block is inked to prepare for transfer. Oil- or water-based printing ink is first rolled out thinly on a flat surface like glass or Plexiglas using a brayer to achieve even consistency, then applied uniformly across the raised surfaces of the linoleum, avoiding excess buildup in grooves by wiping if necessary. This ensures crisp edges and consistent color in the final print.^[44]^[46] Printing transfers the inked image to paper or fabric. The paper is placed over the inked block, and pressure is applied either by hand-rubbing with a baren or spoon in circular motions for even contact, or via a printing press for more uniform results. The block's face-up orientation during this step allows for manual control, with the relief structure ensuring ink adheres only to raised areas. After pulling the print, it is set aside to dry; oil-based inks typically require 1-2 days or more in a warm, dry environment due to oxidation drying, while water-based inks dry faster, often within hours, though exact times vary by formulation and paper absorbency.^[1]^[44]^[47]^[48]

Multi-Color and Advanced Methods

The reduction method, also known as the progressive or "suicide" technique, involves carving and printing successive color layers on a single linoleum block, with each subsequent carving removing material permanently to reveal the next layer.^[49] This approach limits the edition size, as the block is progressively destroyed and cannot be used to reprint earlier colors once altered.^[50] Although popularized by Pablo Picasso starting in 1959 through his collaboration with printer Hidalgo Arnéra, the technique predates him, with documented uses by Australian artist Murray Griffin in 1932.^[49] In contrast, the multiple-block technique employs separate linoleum blocks for each color, allowing for unlimited editions since blocks remain intact after printing.^[51] Precise alignment, or registration, is achieved using systems such as corner keys—L-shaped tabs on the paper that fit into corresponding notches on each block—or registration pins that punch holes in the paper to guide placement.^[52] This method builds the image through sequential overprinting, typically starting with the lightest colors and progressing to darker ones for better coverage.^[51] The jigsaw method offers another single-block alternative for multi-color prints, where the carved linoleum is physically cut into interlocking pieces corresponding to distinct color areas, inked individually, and reassembled like a puzzle before each impression.^[53] This technique enables complex color layering without progressive carving, though it requires careful cutting to maintain piece alignment during reassembly.^[54] Advanced variations in linocut extend these methods to achieve tonal depth and scale. Chiaroscuro effects, adapted from Renaissance woodcut traditions, use a key block for fine line details (often inked black) combined with one or more tone blocks in lighter colors or grays to simulate light and shadow contrasts.^[55] Large-scale printing presents challenges such as uneven ink distribution across expansive blocks, where drying times increase and manual pressure may cause slippage, often necessitating etching presses or specialized rollers for consistent results.^[56] In modern practice, digital aids like image-editing software (e.g., Photoshop) assist with registration by overlaying color separations to plan block alignments precisely before carving.^[57]

Notable Artists and Works

Pioneers and Early Adopters

Emil Orlik, a Czech-Austrian printmaker active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, played a pivotal role in the initial adoption of linocut as a viable artistic medium. In 1901, he produced one of the earliest known series of linocuts, including a triptych depicting aspects of traditional Japanese woodblock printing processes, which demonstrated the technique's potential for graphic simplicity and bold forms. Orlik's portraits and illustrative works from this period, such as those exploring everyday subjects with reduced lines and flat colors, highlighted linocut's accessibility compared to woodcut, influencing subsequent European printmakers.^[17] Vojtěch Preissig, a Czech artist and educator, introduced linocut to the United States in the early 1910s through his teaching and exhibitions. Arriving in New York in 1910, Preissig began incorporating linoleum blocks into woodcut instruction at the Art Students League in 1912 and later at Columbia University's Teachers College, where he adapted the technique for classroom use to teach relief printing to students. His 1911 exhibitions in America, featuring experimental prints, marked the first public exposure of linocut across the Atlantic, bridging European innovations with American craft education. Preissig's own linocuts during this time explored modernist themes with dynamic patterns, encouraging broader adoption among U.S. artists and designers.^[58] Claude Flight, a British artist and educator, founded the linocut program at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London during the 1920s, transforming the medium into a tool for expressing modern life's rhythm and energy. As principal instructor from 1926, Flight developed a distinctive approach to color linocut, using multiple blocks to layer vibrant hues and curved lines that conveyed motion, inspired by Futurist principles. His seminal work Speed (ca. 1922), a color linocut depicting a bustling London street scene with a double-decker bus and pedestrians, exemplifies this style through its swirling forms and bold contrasts, capturing urban dynamism on Japanese paper. Flight's teachings at Grosvenor emphasized linocut's democratic appeal, making it accessible for expressing contemporary themes without traditional engraving skills.^[59] Ethel Spowers, an Australian artist who studied at the Grosvenor School under Claude Flight from 1928 to 1929, exemplified the medium's decorative and modernist potential in her early works. Returning to Melbourne, Spowers produced linocuts like Wet Afternoon (1929–1930), a multi-block color print showing children in raincoats under umbrellas, with rhythmic patterns and flattened perspectives that highlight linocut's capacity for vibrant, stylized compositions. Her 1930 exhibition in Melbourne showcased these pieces, promoting linocut's adaptability for illustrating everyday scenes with a decorative flair influenced by Grosvenor techniques. Spowers' contributions helped disseminate the school's methods to Australia, fostering a local interest in color relief printing during the interwar period.^[60]

20th-Century Masters

Pablo Picasso elevated linocut to new heights beginning with his first experiments in the medium in 1939, during the onset of World War II, when he created simple yet expressive single-color prints reflecting themes of human suffering akin to his earlier La Femme qui pleure series from 1937. These initial works marked Picasso's introduction to the technique's direct carving and printing process, allowing for bold, immediate expression without the need for multiple blocks.^[61] In the 1950s and 1960s, collaborating with master printer Hidalgo Arnera in Vallauris, Picasso pioneered the reduction linocut method, carving away portions of a single block progressively to build multi-color layers in a single edition. This innovative approach produced masterpieces like the Still Life series, including Still Life under the Lamp (1962), where vibrant overlaps of color—such as greens, reds, and yellows—created dynamic compositions of everyday objects, demonstrating his unparalleled command of form and palette in relief printing.^[62] Henri Matisse, in his final creative phase during the 1950s, embraced linocut as an extension of his paper cut-out technique, producing prints that captured the rhythmic, simplified forms seen in his seminal Jazz book (1947). Confined to bed after surgery, Matisse adapted the spontaneous boldness of his cut-outs—vibrant shapes evoking circus performers and abstract motifs—to linocut's relief method, resulting in works like Visage (1953) that emphasized flat color areas and fluid lines. These linocuts, often executed with assistants, reflected Matisse's philosophy of "drawing with scissors" translated into carved linoleum, prioritizing emotional resonance over detail and influencing subsequent generations of printmakers.^[63] M.C. Escher mastered linocut to explore mathematical impossibilities and optical illusions, achieving extraordinary precision in his relief prints that blurred boundaries between reality and abstraction. In works such as Sky and Water I (1938), though executed in woodcut, Escher's technique exemplified the meticulous control he later refined in linocuts like Rippled Surface (1950), where interlocking patterns of fish and birds transition seamlessly through tonal gradations printed from multiple blocks. His linocuts, often in black and gray-brown, highlighted tessellations and metamorphosis, drawing on geometric principles to create mind-bending visuals that combined scientific accuracy with artistic wonder.^[64] In the 1950s to 1970s, the Cape Dorset artists' collective in Nunavut, Canada, innovated relief printing by adapting traditional stone cut methods to linocut for broader accessibility and export, enabling intricate designs on softer materials suitable for international distribution. Led by figures like Kenojuak Ashevak, the group produced thousands of prints depicting Arctic wildlife, myths, and daily life, with Ashevak's iconic works such as The Enchanted Owl (1960) showcasing fluid lines and symbolic imagery adapted from stone to linoleum for cleaner edges and easier production. This shift facilitated the global recognition of Inuit art, with annual collections from 1959 onward blending cultural narratives and modern print techniques.^[65]

Contemporary Practitioners

In the 21st century, linocut has experienced a notable resurgence in educational programs and among hobbyists, driven by the widespread availability of affordable starter kits and the explosion of accessible online tutorials since around 2000.^[66]^[67] These resources, including beginner sets from brands like Speedball and Essdee priced under $50, have democratized the medium, enabling classrooms and home studios to experiment with relief printing without specialized equipment.^[68]^[69] This accessibility has fostered a global community of amateur practitioners, with platforms like YouTube hosting thousands of step-by-step videos that emphasize safe, low-cost techniques.^[70] Contemporary artists continue to push linocut's boundaries with innovative themes and styles. American printmaker Damien Giudice, based in California, produces large-scale linocuts that tackle environmental concerns, such as his multi-color piece Let There Be Sun, which integrates spiritual motifs with symbols of climate urgency and natural renewal.^[71] Similarly, Swedish artist Fia Print, working from her studio in Umeå, creates vibrant, multi-color linocuts that offer subtle social commentary on daily life, community interactions, and cultural shifts in modern Scandinavia, often drawing from personal encounters and local landscapes.^[72] These works highlight linocut's versatility in addressing pressing societal issues through bold, layered color applications. The Inuit printmaking tradition in Kinngait (formerly Cape Dorset), Nunavut, persists through contemporary editions that fuse ancestral motifs with current realities. The 2025 annual collection, released on September 19, 2025, features 33 prints by 15 artists including veterans like Shuvinai Ashoona, incorporates linocut alongside stonecut and etching to explore themes of identity, environmental change, and cultural resilience in the Arctic.^[73] Ashoona's linocuts, for instance, blend traditional storytelling with depictions of modern Inuit experiences, such as urban migration and ecological pressures, maintaining the medium's role in community expression.^[74] Recent innovations have enhanced linocut's sustainability and scope. Eco-friendly inks, like polymerized linseed oil-based Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks, allow water cleanup and minimize volatile organic compounds, appealing to environmentally conscious artists since their development in the late 1990s.^[41] Hybrid digital-linocut processes involve carving traditional blocks, scanning the results, and integrating them into software for manipulation before digital output, enabling complex compositions that bridge analog tactility with computational precision.^[75] In street art, linocut blocks serve as portable stencils for urban interventions, with contemporary practitioners like those in collaborative projects using them to produce temporary, site-specific prints on walls and pavements that comment on public space and ephemerality.^[76]

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The Prints of Carl Schaefer - Érudit
The linoléum Sc haefcr used was of the thicker industrial variety often referred to as 'battleship' linoléum. Unless otherwise mentioned, the artist's linocuts ...
[36]
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/racar/1983-v10-n2-racar05756/1074294ar.pdf
[37]
Essential Safety Tips for Printmaking in the Art Room
Nov 13, 2013 · Be sure to use bench hooks when carving. Bench hooks help hold the blocks in place so students can keep their hands away from the sharp tools.
[38]
Arts & Crafts Supplies - Medbery Makerspace - Research Guides
Sep 4, 2025 · Safety: Always carve away from you. Keep both hands behind the blade as you carve. LINOCUT CARVING AND PRINTING. Brief Description: Linocuts ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[39]
https://libguides.utk.edu/c.php?g=1344928&p=10435961
[40]
Best Linocut Inks for Block Printing on Paper and Fabric
Nov 20, 2016 · Best Oil-Based Ink for Printing Linocuts on Paper. Winner - Caligo Safe Wash Relief Ink. Hands down the best overall ink on the market for lino printing.
[41]
Best Types of Paper to Try for Block Printmaking
BFK Rives is a beautiful 100% cotton paper favored by printmakers who enjoy printing on dampened paper. Because it's a heavier weight, I recommend using a ...
[42]
Everything You Need to Know About Printmaking Paper - Jackson's Art
Jul 6, 2021 · They can withstand the pressure exerted by the printmaking baren as it rubs the back of the paper and still retain their shape.
[43]
[PDF] Lino Printing – Single Colour & Jigsaw Technique
Lino Printing is a traditional relief printing technique where the printing plate is cut or carved into lino. The process dates back to the late 1800s as a way ...
[44]
[PDF] Preparing Unmounted Linoleum Blocks
Place a piece of natural, smooth fabric like a cotton dish towel over it and iron the linoleum with the iron set on low to medium heat until it is quite warm.
[45]
Printing and Embossing Clay With Linocuts - Ceramic Arts Network
Oct 1, 2012 · In today's post, Paul Andrew Wandless demonstrates how linocuts can be made and used for printing onto clay and stamping into clay.
[46]
Water-Soluble Block Printing Inks - Speedball Art
While superior to the open time offered by competitive water-soluble block printing inks, Speedball's Water-Soluble Inks do dry more quickly than oil-based ...
[47]
[PDF] Speedball-Block-Printing-101-Manual.pdf
Speedball Professional Relief Inks dry by oxidation therefore, drying prints in a warm, dry environment is best. While the inks do contain some driers, artists ...
[48]
Not Picasso's invention - a foray into the history of reductive ...
Dec 1, 2024 · Picasso developed the 'reductive method' whereby a single block was cut and printed across the entire edition before further cutting and printing of the same ...
[49]
Linocut Printmaking Techniques of Picasso - Remai Modern Currents
Oct 23, 2020 · Picasso most often used a reductive technique. He carved further into the block for each colour to reveal the next layer to be printed. The ...
[50]
https://remaimoderncurrents.ca/linocut-printmaking-tools-and-techniques-with-pablo-picasso-hildalgo-arnera-and-patrick-bulas/
[51]
https://handprinted.co.uk/blogs/blog/making-a-multi-block-linocut
[52]
Making a New Jigsaw Linocut Print - Boarding All Rows
Apr 14, 2020 · The jigsaw method involves cutting linoleum into pieces, inking them separately, and reassembling them like a jigsaw before printing. Draw an ...
[53]
https://www.boardingallrows.com/blog/making-a-new-jigsaw-linocut-print
[54]
Fade to Grey – chiaroscuro linocuts - paisleypedlar - WordPress.com
Mar 1, 2014 · This pioneering 16th-century printing technique breathed new life into well-known biblical scenes and legends, with the chiaroscuro method ...
[55]
The Process of Designing, Carving and Printing a Large Linocut for ...
Sep 17, 2014 · Though it was a challenging project for me, I really enjoyed it and this is how I created my print. The design process started with some small ...
[56]
2.3 Multi-block linoprint - Hugh Hadfield
A way of designing and planning a mutli-colour block print and struck on the idea of using layers in Photoshop to help define each colour block very precisely.
[57]
https://hughhadfield.com/2-3-multi-block-linoprint/
[58]
Claude Flight - Speed - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Title: Speed · Artist: Claude Flight (British, 1881–1955) · Date: ca. 1922 · Medium: Color linocut on Japanese paper · Dimensions: Block: 8 7/8 × 11 5/16 in. (22.6 ...
[59]
Wet afternoon, 1929-1930 by Ethel Spowers :: | Art Gallery of NSW
The linocuts she made under Flight's tutelage show a modernist movement and rhythm. This print was exhibited in London in 1930, when impressions were acquired ...
[60]
Pablo Picasso Linocuts: A Master of the Medium - Art News
Oct 19, 2017 · Picasso tried a style of printmaking called linocut. Linocut, short for linoleum cut, is a technique of print making that utilizes a linoleum block.
[61]
Picasso Linoleum Cuts: The Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kramer Collection
The linoleum cuts of Pablo Picasso reveal the graphic genius of this undisputed giant among twentieth-century artists. Between 1939 and 1968, Picasso ...
[62]
Henri Matisse - A Master of Print - Capital Culture Gallery
From 1900 until his death in 1954 he completed more than eight hundred etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, and monotypes. He is widely recognised as one ...Missing: 1950s | Show results with:1950s<|separator|>
[63]
Linoleum Cut – M.C. Escher – The Official Website
August1918, Linoleum cut. Waves. 1918 Linoleum cut, watercolor. Two Bells. 1918, Linoleum cut. Self-Portrait. 1918 Linoleum cut, printed from two blocks.
[64]
Inuit Printmaking | The Canadian Encyclopedia
Jul 8, 2008 · He was also one of the early participants in the Cape Dorset print program who worked with James Houston and translated into prints the drawings ...<|separator|>
[65]
The best lino printing kit, supplies and tools to buy in 2025 - Gathered
Lino printing is a popular medium used by artists and lino printing tools can be very expensive, but there are more affordable kits available. Many people ...
[66]
PRINTMAKING Tutorial, How to LINOCUT for Beginners Pt. 1
Feb 26, 2021 · Part 1 of my Linocut Printmaking Tutorial series will cover materials and block print design. Shop: https://www.ramblintoadpress.com/shop ...
[67]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER2WVwUweaU
[68]
Lino Printing Kit - Amazon.com
4.5 17K · 30-day returnsLinocut Kit for Printmaking with 5PCS 4"x6" Soft Rubber Linoleum Blocks, Brayer & Carving Tools – Block Printing & Stamp Making Supplies for Beginners & Artists.
[69]
Linocut Printmaking Tutorial Series - YouTube
Linocut Printmaking Tutorial Series Introduction · Linocut Printmaking Tutorial 01: Tools and Materials · Linocut Printmaking Tutorial 02: Drawing and ...
[70]
POP Member Showcase | 21 Linocut Artists - People of Print
Mar 20, 2023 · A collection of linocut artworks from a selection of the talented printmakers in our Official POP community.Missing: century | Show results with:century
[71]
Working from her countryside studio in Umeå, Sweden ... - Instagram
Jul 10, 2025 · Working from her countryside studio in Umeå, Sweden, @fiaprint produces linocut prints inspired by her surroundings and everyday encounters. ...
[72]
News Roundup: New Art Released From Elisapie, Cape Dorset Print ...
Sep 14, 2023 · Available for purchase on October 21, the collection of stonecut, lithograph, etching and linocut prints was made by 20 Kinngait artists and ...<|separator|>
[73]
https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/lite/inuit-art-quarterly/news/the-2025-annual-cape-dorset-print-collection-has-been-released
[74]
Digital/traditional hybrid techniques | Printmaking Class Notes
Hybrid techniques in printmaking combine digital technologies with traditional methods to create innovative artworks · These techniques expand the possibilities ...
[75]
POP Member Showcase: 13 Linocut Artists - People of Print
May 5, 2020 · The showcase features 13 linocut artists creating diverse projects, from fish illustrations to moth life cycles and book cover commissions.