Missing image

© Jack Knox RSA

NUCKELAVEE 1986

Jack Knox (1936 – 2015)

Details

Dimension
56 X 75.5 CM
Media
LITHOGRAPH
Accession number
P5458

Summary

Whilst in his final year at University Charles Booth-Clibborn published The Scottish Bestiary under his imprint The Paragon Press. Booth-Clibborn had invited the Orkney born writer George Mackay Brown to produce texts, in the form of poetry and prose, to accompany 20 prints by Scottish artists depicting 19 animals – real and mythological. By chance Knox had done a series of drawings relating to the poems of Mackay Brown several years before being invited to contribute to the Bestiary. He made a few small sketches before working directly on the lithographic stone. The black lithographic line was printed first and a translucent white square screenprinted over the top. The Nuckelavee is a supernatural creature: a creature of abject terror, spoken of with baited breath. Mackay Brown’s poem refers to an Orcadian tale about an encounter with a Nuckelavee. www.orkneyjar.com

Further reading:
Contemporary Art in Print, Scottish National Gallery of Modern and The Paragon Press, 1995, texts by Jeremy Lewison, Duncan Macmillan and Patrick Elliott