“Are you at all familiar with linocut?”
This is my conversation starter 70% of the time at markets. The other 30% I use “Are you a reader?” but I have to feel reasonably sure that the person will say yes because you know what sucks? Feeling the need to defend your reading habits or lack thereof to a random art lady.
Linocut is a type of printmaking where you carve linoleum, yes, like the flooring material! And then make prints from your carving by rolling ink across the un-carved areas, and applying paper with pressure to transfer the ink.
No, haha, I did not invent it. People have been doing linocut almost since the invention of linoleum in 1860. In terms of art in museums, this print, a cover for The Inland Printer by William Bradley was made in 1895. This is almost definitely not the first linocut print, but there isn’t great documentation of people experimenting with the process.
I also want to reiterate that linocut was not invented by Picasso, which a bunch of people seem to believe. (also, he was so awful, stop referring to him when you can’t think of other artists!)
My university degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with a Printmaking specialization, which is something most people don’t know is a thing. Most of us have been doing printmaking since our parents cut a potato in half for us and let us dip it in paint and press it on paper. “Only on the paper, Brianna. No, your brother is not the paper!” I gained an appreciation for the finer aspect of printmaking, first at Beal, then at OCAD. Printmaking has wide and varied definitions, that’s really a whole 300 level class, but basically it can be broken down into three categories: Relief, Intaglio, and Planographic.
- Relief is any medium where there is a height difference between the printing area (above) and the non printing area (recessed). Relief printmaking includes woodcut, wood engraving, linocut, stonecut, etc.
- Intaglio is a type of printmaking where texture is used to hold ink, often in recessed areas in the matrix. This includes, etching, drypoint, mezzotint, aquatint, photogravure, and collagraph (collagraph can also be printed as relief)
- Planographic refers to types of printmaking where there is no raised or lowered areas and the separation between printing and not printing is caused by stencils or chemical processes. These include screenprinting, lithography, cyanotype, pochoir, etc.
Beyond those four categories, there are certain studies that are often grouped under “print-adjacent” and these include paper making, marbling, and bookbinding.
I am primarily a relief printmaker, although I had a pretty serious fling with Lithography in my early twenties, and latly I've been more interested in papermaking!
Relief printmaking is backwards, literally. Whenever I carve anything I have to do it in reverse because the impression works like a mirror. This is particularly important for… WORDS. Also: dominant hands of crucial characters, clocks, maps, recognizable image references, watch wrists, rotary phones, asymmetrical logos… basically specific asymmetry of any kind. Sometimes I remember. Sometimes I forget. I made this lithograph (litho is also backwards) for my undergrad thesis that is full of text. It is all facing the correct direction, except for the “g” in hockeygirl11.
A technique I use quite often is “reduction printing” wherein I carve and print a block, then I carve the same block a little more, and print again, on the same paper in a different colour of ink. Because it’s the same block, and the same paper, it’s a lot easier to line up or register the parts of the image with one another. It takes a lot of forward thinking and the sharpie comes in really handy.
In this reduction print I did in 2017, I printed first with white ink and then with blue on a light brown paper. There was a lot of text to be flipped and a lot of colour planning to do in the carving stages. Stage 1: everything that is middle toned needs to be carved away but the light tones and the dark tones need to stay. Stage 2: everything that is light toned needs to be carved away and everything dark toned needs to stay. I tend to plan based on light, medium and dark tones, rather than specific colours which helps me keep things straight.
Over the years and as I've developed more and better linocut techniques, I've recorded them in these blog posts. Happy reading!
How to Make Sense of Reduction Linocut
Coveting Your Carving: 8 Masterful Linocut* Artists on Instagram
How to Draw for Linocut Printmaking
Portraiture in Linocut: Get your face game on!
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4 comments
Hi Doug,
I’m not a historian and I don’t have a really satisfying answer to this question. However, linocut is essentially a material-swap for woodcut which dates back to at least 8th century China. I find it hard to believe that this medium has existed for over a thousand years and the reduction process never happened til Picasso. To me it seems likely that like the visual style he is famous for, Picasso didn’t so much invent it as make it more mainstream.
But also, as a contemporary linocut reduction artist, I have decided to engage with the Picasso conversation as little as possible :) there is so much more to be said!
I found your site after I did some searching to try and validate what seemed like a fantastic claim I saw someone make: that Picasso invented “reduction linocut.”
So, we’re in agreement that he didn’t invent linocut printing. We’re also in agreement on what an awful human being he was. I’d be curious to know what you’ve heard or read about the “reduction” part being credit to him? My gut says the technique previously existed and he adopted it (but got credit for it).
Thank you Joceyln! I as of 2021 I have occasionally run a linocut workshop out of SNAP Printshop. We’re Edmonton based but the last one “Intricate Lino Carving” was held online for anyone worldwide. Otherwise, I am always adding to the lino education repertoire here in Nerd Time with Brianna. I recommend signing up for the mailing list so you don’t miss any new lessons. https://www.subscribepage.com/penrosepress
Brianna, I love your work (recent collab. #2 is gorgeous). It’s inspired me to try linocutting and then to search online for guidance. Your site offers the most useful tips in the most engaging way and, so, I wonder: have you considered offering an online class? Say 4 sessions? For people who have no drawing background? And if the thought of preparing materials and organizing for such a thing is deeply offputting, how about an experimental test run where you do zero and just demonstrate a technique or two every week? I would so happily pay to learn from you and carve away with others.