Saturday 16 July 2011

Wharton Harris Esherick, George Soper: more ploughing.

I thought I'd done a thorough search for pictures in last weeks Ploughing Posting. Finding some that should have been included and can impossibly be left out urging me to return one more time to the ploughing horses on woodblock prints.

George Soper (1870-1942) etcher, woodblock printer, illustrator and painter. Famous for his paintings, etchings and prints of British rural life and in particular the big British working horses.. There are many drawings depicting this ploughing scene from his hand. His works are included in the collections in the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum. 



But the greatest surprise are these very strong woodcuts by:

Wharton Harris Esherick
(1987-1970)
American architect, sculptor, Arts and Crafts artist, furniture and interior designer.





Esherick has his own museum and many websites and Blogs are dedicated to this versatile and long lived artist who is unjustly not often referred to anymore but who had a great influence on modern furniture design.
He is so good (and I cannot understand and reluctantly have to admit I'd never heard of him before) I decided sharing  some more of his great woodblock prints here.  
Googling Esherick will reveal marvellous examples of exotic, arts and crafts and honest furniture and house and home designs.








Please let me know what you think of these wonderful images in so many different styles by leaving a comment. And please have a(nother) look at the signature in the first Ploughing Post three days ago.


As a PS from Charles  (thank you Modern Printmakers) this Ex-libris, a miniature landscape by Adrian Feint
Adrian Feint

4 comments:

  1. And I have also included another one for you in my latest post.

    Charles

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Haji, it's in the PS/addenda. Lovely Ex-libris.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The tree trunk silhouettes are stunning. A lot of woodblock prints from that era just feel busy to me, so that one is a breath of fresh air.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Marissa, that's why I included the tree trunks. I've polished up the original and cleaned it a little in Photoshop to emphasize the deceivingly simple composition in b&w. These prints in so many different styles were a revelation to me too. What about the rainy bird and the dazzling perpective work room print ?

    ReplyDelete