An exhibition over 60 woodcuts and engravings selected by Simon Brett and drawn from the rich holdings of the British Council collection. The works were acquired between 1938 and 1947 from funds donated at the inception of the Council by Lord Wakefield. The exhibition was in part the result of the renewed interest in wood engraving which began in the early 1980s. A shift in the cultural climate allowed the art to assume a profile it had not had since before the Second World War. The show included almost all the significant practitioners and several of the most celebrated images of the period when wood engraving was being taken up by artists as a creative medium and covered what has come to be seen as a sort of Golden Age of British wood engraving. A catalogue with an essay and entries by Brett was published (ISBN 086355 118 1) and the exhibition toured from 1992 until 1997.

 

Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Engraving

    An intaglio process whereby lines are cut into a metal or wood plate using an engraving tool (a burin), which is pushed in front of the hand to achieve a sharp controlled incision capable of great delicacy. This technique requires a great deal of control and is not suited to spontaneous mark-making.

  • Medium

    Refers to either the material used to create a work of art, craft or design, i.e. oil, bronze, earthenware, silk; or the technique employed i.e. collage, etching, carving. In painting the medium refers to the binder for the pigment, e.g. oil, egg, acrylic dispersion. The plural form is media.