Félix Vallotton, Money (L'argent) from the series Intimités, 1898
The essence of black and white
Printmakers wanted to return to the woodcut as a pure and robust means of expression, contrasting deep blacks with the white of the paper.
To that end, Félix Vallotton no longer cut away all the wood until only fine, drawing-like lines were left. Instead, he cut away his lines very sparingly, to keep the black surface of the inked-up wooden block as intact as possible.
We can see how far he went in Money, in which more than three quarters of the block has been left black.
Emile Bernard, Christ (Christ), 1894
An unpolished style
Emile Bernard was searching for a new, more naive art in an unpolished style, which led him back to the medieval origins of the woodcut.
He found inspiration in the line woodcuts of artists like Albrecht Dürer, whom he saw as the representative of a primitive, yet all the more honest art and the values that went with it.
Further reading
- Herbert Furst, The Modern Woodcut (From its Origin), A Study of the Evolution of the Craft, London 1924
- Félix Bracquemond, Etude sur la gravure sur bois et la lithographie, Paris 1897
- Jacquelynn Baas, The Artistic Revival of the Woodcut in France 1850-1900, Ann Arbor 1984