Maple Avenue Evening High School - Progress Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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blocks with lines or strong inassesg next' some black line ' blocks serve as key blocks to a set of color, blocks and serve to 'bind the coinl' position and' carry the drawingg the Japanese prints are made in this Way. Passion, a character sketch, block print Then there are color blocks in which 'masses of color and value play against one another Without any lines to bind them. It is interesting with K Q Page Forty-nine

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The Revival of Blocl: Cutting. By FRANK GERITZ, in California Southland THE revival of wood block or linoleum block cutting and printing is so widespread throughout the civilized countries' that noted art critics claim The Golden Age of block printing is imminent if not already here. Truly so when we see such masters as Brangwyn, Soper, Vilbert and others embrace it and that it is being added to high school courses where instruc- tors can be secured. In this revival California is taking her part and, in the south has Benjamin Brown, Howell Brown, May Geartheart, Howard Willard and the writer as active creators in this medium. Two factors are responsible for the revival ,of block cutting, a process which, contrary to general belief, originated in the early part of the four- teenth century, preceding printing. One factor is that there is a demand by art lovers with limited purses, for fine things to collect. An original painting by a master is out of the question but a block print by the same man quite within reach. Then too with bungalow homes and apartments with limited wall spaces the block prints are found to be ideal spots of color. The other factor, perhaps the most essential and vital one, is that the block process with its insistent imposition of simplicity and limitation was the compromise and haven of refuge to the artists caught in the cross- current of abstractions, realism and impressionism and a cure for the an- aemic art which is the product of machine reproduction. The blocks, with their limitation, modified realism and abstractions into strong decorative forms. Then too, the deliberate, definite and virile results have a charm of their own as well as the fact that it is an individual and creative process. The finished print, through all its processes, designing, cutting and printing, is the inspiration and product of one man. Is A Versatile Medium It is a most Versatile medium, expressing with equal force in black and white or a full gamut of color. First there are the black and white Page Forty-eight

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a set of blocks to print them in different color schemes and note the sur- prising different moods so expressed. ' . Block printing, briefly, consists of drawing a design and tracing it with brush and ink on tracing paper and glueing this paper to the block, or drawing directly on the block, wood or linoleum, then cutting away with knife or tools all except that which is intended to print. This is charged with color and impression made by pressure or rubbing. Woodblock prints inthe early part of the fourteenth century grew out of the need of the people for pictures. Oil paintings, water colors or minia- tures, which then were in vogue, were too expensive for most people. Another factor was the need of the churches to disseminate religious knowledge. First Biblical scenes were cut and colored by hand with gaudy colors. Then illustrations for educational books, of which at first the let- tering was done by handg next the lettering was cut into block, too, and thus whole plates were made. Albrecht Durer, the great German master of the fifteenth century, carried woodcutting to a high development with his series of blocks, all in black and white. The Italians added color blocks and increased the size of blocks to proportions of paintings. There is one extant measuring six feet by two feet. It is said to be the works of these early Italian block artists that were carried by missionaries to Japan and started the Japanese making Woodblock prints. It is of interest that the German block artists are now accused of being too much influenced by the Japanese. Woodcuts were in wide use as illustrations, gradually evolving into fine wood engravings, and as photo-engraving was invented and perfected, the woodblocks were relegated to obscurity and only -an occasional artist thought to express himself in it. Now, seven hundred years later, in the reaction against the indiscrim- inate eyes of the photoengraving process, and the far too prolific emit- ings of the multicolor presses, and in the maelstrom and chaos of the art isms, it is being revived again, to act as a stabilizer, and revive art with comprehensive simplicity and strength. Page Fifty