Linocut

File:CarlEugenKeel-Bar.jpg

Linocut Bar by Carl Eugen Keel

Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge, with the raised (uncarved) areas representing a reversal (mirror image) of the parts to show printed. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a brayer), and then impressed onto paper or fabric. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a press.

Origins

Although linoleum as a floor covering dates to the 1860s, the linocut printing technique was used first by the artists of Die Brücke in Germany between 1905–13 where it had been similarly used for wallpaper printing. They initially described these prints as woodcuts, which sounded more respectable.

Technique

Using a handheld gouger to cut a design into linoleum for a linocut print.

Linocut printing; using a design cut into linoleum to make a print on paper.

Since the material being carved has no directional grain and does not tend to split, it is easier to obtain certain artistic effects with lino than with most woods, although the resultant prints can lack the often angular grainy character of woodcuts and engravings. Lino is generally much easier to cut than wood, especially when heated, but the pressure of the printing process degrades the plate faster and it is difficult to create larger works due to the material's fragility.

Linocuts can also be achieved by the careful application of sodium hydroxide in a paste to parts of the surface of the lino. This creates a surface similar to a soft ground etching and these caustic-lino plates can be printed in either a relief, intaglio or a viscosity printing manner.

Colour linocuts can be made by using a different block for each colour as in a woodcut, but, as Pablo Picasso demonstrated quite effectively, such prints can also be achieved using a single piece of linoleum in what is called the 'reductive' print method. Essentially, after each successive colour is imprinted onto the paper, the artist then cleans the lino plate and cuts away what will not be imprinted for the subsequently applied colour.

Due to ease of use, linocut is widely used in schools to introduce children to the art of printmaking, using it to complete many tasks in the art lesson rather than going straight for the pencil and eraser; similarly, non-professional artists often cut lino rather than wood for printing. However, in the contemporary art world the linocut is an established professional print medium, following its use by Picasso and Henri Matisse.

Emergence of the technique in America

The first large-scale colour linocuts made by an American artist were created ca. 1943–45 by Walter Inglis Anderson, and exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 1949. Today, linocut is a popular technique among street artists and street art-related fine art. Prominent practitioners include Swoon, Josh MacPhee and Jim Pollock.

Selected artists

• James Dodds, British artist
• Irving Amen, American artist
• Valenti Angelo, American printmaker and illustrator
• Walter Inglis Anderson American artist
• Sybil Andrews English-Canadian artist
• Hans Anton Aschenborn, German painter and illustrator best known for his work in Africa during the early twentieth century
• Georg Baselitz, German artist
• Angel Botello, Spanish-Puerto Rican artist
• Carlos Cortez American poet and artist
• Stanley Donwood, British artist (most famous for his work with British band Radiohead), his work for Thom Yorke's album The Eraser was executed originally in linocut
• Janet Doub Erickson, American printmaker and artist
• M. C. Escher, Dutch artist known for his mathematically inspired works
• Bill Fick, American printmaker and illustrator
• Folly Cove Designers American design collective
• Jacques Hnizdovsky, Ukrainian-American printmaker, painter, book illustrator, and ex libris designer
• William Kermode, Australian illustrator
• Henri Matisse, French painter
• Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter
• Cyril Edward Power, English artist
• Everett Ruess, American painter, printmaker, writer, and poet, well known for his depiction of scenes from the American southwest
• Irena Sibley, Australian artist, children's book author, and art teacher
• Ken Sprague, English artist and activist
• Hannah Tompkins, American artist and printmaker
• Mark Mulfinger, American artist

See also

• Block printing
• Gyotaku
• Letterboxing
• Printmaking
• Rubber stamp
• Through and through
• Woodcut

Further reading

• Rice, William S., Block Prints: How to Make Them, Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1941.
• Draffin, Nicholas, Australian Woodcuts and Linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, South Melbourne: Sun Books, 1976.
• 30 Awesome and Fabulous Examples of Lino Printing articles by Artatm Creative Art Mazazine
• Printing Relief Techniques and Printing Relief History two articles by French printmaker Dominique Lecomte
• photo series: Linocut articles by German printmaker Joachim Graf