woodcut

Today’s print: Warning–not a feel-good or pretty piece. “By Parties Unknown“

Hale Woodruff (1900-1980) was an African-American artist best known as a painter and more specifically a muralist (most famous work, The Armistad Mutiny mural at Talladega College). He was not a prolific printmaker, but I find the 15 or so of his prints I’ve been able to locate compelling. To me, they convey visually and viscerally what feel like powerful points about the African-American experience, including some disturbing but important pieces. The style is figurative but not photo-realistic, which potentiates the impact for me. This woodcut portrays an African-American lynching victim, left on the steps of a church by his murderers. ( I promise not to post heavy stuff like this multiple days in a row.)

Some of you have noticed a few posts from me over the past months about my new enthusiasm for print art. I’m looking at more and more prints and taking insane pleasure from them. I’ve decided to try sharing a print a day. I’m starting with an Australian-American artist named Richard Bosman, now in his late 70s. My earliest print enthusiasm was for classic black and white etchings and engravings. Bosman mostly prints in bold color, though often with a palette limited to varying shades of a single color. A lot of his earlier works are themed around violence or disasters, sort of pulp fiction style, and I find those works unattractive and unmoving. I enjoy some of his pieces that are nature-themed, landscapes, and architectural and city views. The sea and night skies are often prominent or the central feature. Many of his prints are diptychs, often suggesting serial views, almost like frames in a comic book. The print I’ve selected for today is one of these diptychs called Nighscapes, created in 1992. Enjoy!