John Buckland-Wright was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and after the death of his parents he came to England. Following a distinguished service in World War I he read history at Oxford and in 1920 graduated from London University in architecture. In the mid 1920s he began to travel and to teach himself engraving. He spent several years as assistant to S W Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris, where his contacts and his own work put him squarely in the ranks of the avant garde. In 1930, he began to make wood and copper engraved illustrations for private presses in Holland and for the Golden Cockerel Press from 1936. These endless variations on the female nude, somewhat sexy, somewhat generalised, are at their best brilliantly decorative and opulent; but when he returned to Britain at the outbreak of World War II, they came almost to wholly dominate his work.

Further reading
The engravings of John Buckland Wright, edited by Christopher Buckland Wright, Ashgate Edirion an imprint Scolar Press, Aldershot, 1990

 

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.

  • Imprint

    In a bibliographic item, the name of the publisher, distributor, or manufacturer, and the place and date of publication.

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