Lino-cut artists

Chris Bourke
A tribute piece for Billie Holiday.
66 x 46.5cm
Printed on Camford 150gsm acid paper

By looking at this print, one would assume the artist is advanced in his printing skills. He remembered to cut the the text 'Lady Day' in reverse so that it printed legibly too.
The patterns and flowers are completely symmetrical, which suggests a lot of time and effort has been put into this piece.
I guess the artist must have had some good drawing skills to be able to render a portrait onto lino as well. You can clearly see where the lino has been lightly cut on the face area, as it has left an impression.







Sally Hanreck
'Cat'
Wood block print

I love this because of its style and texture. There is no tone and the dark areas have been filled completely black. I love how lino/wood block cutting can really emphasise a person's artistic ability and talent. The artist seems to have a great understanding of the human body in order to be able to render it anatomically correct but also adding her own style to it too, through the way she has drawn the eyes and ears large. Though some shapes seem to be warping out of proportion, which looks good in my opinion! (See the cat's paw - it's huge!).







Elizabeth Catlett
'Sharecropper', 1952-1970
Printed on cream Japanese paper

Catlett is an immensely talented artist. Her lino cuts are extremely detailed and look labour-intensive. She trends with using only three colours per piece, one of which is only the paper colour. In this case, the only colour used has been for the skin.
There is texture everywhere, including on the skin, which looks amazing and gives the illusion of light and shade.





Sources:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/catlett_elizabeth.html
http://sallyhanreck.com/archives/1003
http://chrisbourkeart.com/