A Being More Intense: The Art of Six Wood Engravers (2009)

The essays in this book explore the formative years and dip into the inner worlds of six artists each of whom has made a reputation chiefly as a wood engraver. They seek to uncover the roots of the art of these people who are now printmakers and their reasons for choosing the exacting medium of wood engraving. Painting, graphic design, illustration and sculpture were their first loves; in wood engraving they found themselves; but as artists, their temperaments are very different. Jenny Pery therefore focuses on their individuality. She celebrates the endurance of wood engraving, for itself but chiefly for the liberating opportunities it gave in these six cases. She asserts its place as a serious artistic medium within the general flux of contemporary art. Her six artists witness the diversity of which it is capable. The book is richly illustrated in black and white and colour, largely with engravings, but also with preparatory, earlier or parallel works in other media. Artists include George Tute, Simon Brett, Ian Stephens, Sarah Van Niekerek, Hillary Paynter and Peter Lawrence. Condition: fine