linoleum block printing

Woodcut Gandria by Carl Eugen Keel

Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge, with the raised (uncarved) areas representing a reversal (mirror image) of the parts to show printed. The cut areas can then be pulled from the backing. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a brayer), and then impressed onto paper or fabric. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a press.

As the material being carved has no particular direction to its grain and does not tend to split, it is easier to obtain certain artistic effects than with most woods, although the resultant prints lack the wood character of wood block printing. Linoleum is also much easier to cut than wood, which must be carved away, but the pressure of the printing process degrades the plate faster. It is also difficult to create larger works due to the material's fragility.

Although linoleum as a floor covering dates to the 1860s, the linocut was invented by the artists of Die Brücke in Germany between 1905-13. At first they described their prints as woodcuts, which sounded more respectable.

Colour linocuts can be made by using a different block for each colour, as in woodcut. But, as Pablo Picasso demonstrated quite effectively, such prints can also be achieved using a single piece of linoleum in what is called the 'reductive' print method. Essentially, after each successive colour is imprinted onto the paper, the artist then cleans the lino plate and goes back into the linoleum, cutting away what will not be imprinted for the subsequently applied colour.[1]

Due to ease of use, linocut is widely used in schools to introduce children to the art of printmaking; similarly, non-professional artists often use linocut rather than woodcut. But, as Picasso and Henri Matisse helped to establish, linoleum is also a respected medium used for printmaking by professional artists. The first large colour linocuts made by an American artist were those of Walter Inglis Anderson, ca. 1943-1945, which were exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 1949.

Today, linocut is a popular technique among street artists and street art-related fine art. Prominent practitioners include Swoon, Josh MacPhee and Jim Pollock.

Selected artists

Sybil Andrews (1936) Tumulus Linocut in 4 colours on Japanese mulberry paper

• Irving Amen, American artist
• Valenti Angelo, American printmaker & illustrator
• Walter Inglis Anderson American artist
• Sybil Andrews English/Canadian artist
• Georg Baselitz, German artist
• Angel Botello, Spanish-Puerto Rican artist
• Carlos Cortez American poet and artist
• Stanley Donwood, British artist (most famous for his work with British band Radiohead). His work for Thom Yorke's album The Eraser was originally done in linocut.
• Bill Fick, American printmaker & illustrator
• Jacques Hnizdovsky, Ukrainian-American printmaker, painter, book illustrator and ex libris designer
• William Kermode, Australian illustrator
• Henri Matisse, French painter
• Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter
• Cyril Edward Power, British artist
• Ken Sprague, English artist and activist
• Folly Cove Designers American design collective
• John Paige English artist and member of the Society of Wildlife Artists
• Angie Hani artist in the American International School Of Kuwait, Famous artist
• Jim Pollock, artist popular for prints made for the band Phish.
• M. C. Escher, Dutch artist known for his mathematically inspired works
• John Steins, Canadian artist
• Mark Andrew Webber, British artist, Most famous for his Linocut Map Series of different cities. Also created the New Media Technique of Linomation, which is Hand carved Animation from linoleum.

See also

• Block printing
• Gyotaku
• Printmaking
• Rubber stamp
• Through and through
• Woodcut
• Linoprints
• Pablo Picasso

Further reading

• Rice, William S., Block Prints: How to Make Them, Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1941.
• Draffin, Nicholas, Australian Woodcuts and Linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, South Melbourne: Sun Books, 1976.