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© copyright The Artist

FRONTISPIECE 1986

Steven Campbell (1953 – 2007)

Details

Dimension
56 X 75.5 CM
Media
WOOD CUT
Accession number
P5451

Summary

Whilst in his final year at University Charles Booth-Clibborn published The Scottish Bestiaryunder 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. Campbell contributed two works to the Bestiary: the frontispiece and a woodcut accompanying the poem to the Lobster. The artist elected to use the woodcut medium as it could be done at home and did not require any complex apparatus; the blocks were cut with a chisel.

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

Glossary

  • Imprint

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

  • 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.

  • Woodcut

    A relief print made by printing from the top surface of a plank of wood into which a design has been cut with gouges or knives. The cuts (which show up white in the print) are usually quite bold because of the texture and grain of the plank, whether hard or soft wood. This term is broadly used to cover any print from a wooden block.

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