Object Details
Artist
Mabel A. Hewit
Date
ca. 1934
Medium
White line woodcut
Dimensions
Image: 11 1/2 × 14 inches (29.2 × 35.6 cm)
Sheet: 14 1/4 × 18 1/4 inches (36.2 × 46.4 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the generosity of Nancy Horton Bartels, Class of 1948, and Hank Bartels, Class of 1948, and through the generosity of Penny Haitkin, Class of 1965
Object
Number
2010.102.001
White-line woodcut was a technique developed by Bror Nordfeldt in the early twentieth century. Exasp(…)
White-line woodcut was a technique developed by Bror Nordfeldt in the early twentieth century. Exasperated by the long process of creating, registering, and printing individual blocks for each color, he invented a process using one block in which deep grooves separated each area. All the color was applied at the same time, locally to each area, and then the block was printed. The result is a stained glass effect, with thin white lines separating the color sections.Hewit learned this process directly from Nordfelt’s contemporary Blanche Lazzell and both women explored and perfected this technique for the rest of their professional lives. Hewit’s inventive woodcuts depicting scenes from everyday life describe the world in joyful color and charming simplicity. The blocks themselves are equally lively and show her frugality in using both sides of the block for individual prints. (“Imprint/ In Print,” curated by Nancy E. Green with assistance from Christian Waibel ’17 and presented at the Johnson Museum August 8 – December 20, 2015)
