Name:______________________________________________________________
__________________Mr. Vedder - Studio Art
Digital Woodcut
Animals
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History of the Woodcut:
Woodcutting is a relief process, which are produced by inking a raised
surface against which a piece of paper is pressed, either manually or by
running it through a press, to create an image on the paper.
 The design of a woodcut is produced by elimination, cutting away
everything except the lines or shapes to be printed.
 The woodcut is the oldest of the graphic techniques.
 The Chinese printed a block-book before the year 1050 and were
produced in Japan as early as 770.
 The woodcut, as it influenced our culture, appeared first in Germany, with
the introduction of paper.
 In the early part of the fifteenth century block-books began to appear.
These evidently were the first printed books, for they could be printed
without a press. The matter to be printed - text and pictures - was cut on a
block of wood.
 By the mid-sixteenth century, engraving had come to be the preferred
medium for book illustration.
 Albrecht Durer is the greatest glory of the woodcut. He designed many
pictures for the medium between 1492 and 1528.
 As a reproductive art in the service of commerce the woodcut was
suffered to almost expire because of the cheaper and quicker mechanical
processes that were being perfected in the latter part of the past century.
Albrecht Durer:
Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528) was a German painter, printmaker and theorist
from Germany. His ambitious woodcuts revolutionized the potential of that
medium.
Teacher Sample:
Original Photo:
Digital Woodcut:
References:
http://woodblock.com/encyclopedia/entries/011_04/history.html
http://www.albrecht-durer.org/