Under Snow

         Every time we have a beautiful snowfall of course I think of block prints, and there seems to be an inexhaustible supply of block prints that celebrate snow.  Today I had to start with “Dublin Under Snow” by Robert Gibbings (Ireland, 1889-1958) because I had a recent encounter with this piece.  At Christmas my daughter got nice little hardcover copies of two books by Claire Keegan, and I was delighted to recognize a familiar

friend of mine on the cover of each: block prints.  If you’ve read Small Things Like These, you might recognize this one.  (The other cover, So Late in the Day, featured a piece I shared here, back in 2015.)  This evocation of rooftops in the snow manages to be simultaneously starkly geometric and lushly poetic, and I absolutely love it!

        I thought I’d continue the theme of snow scenes involving towns rather than pure nature, and here’s a cinematic one by Gwenda Morgan (UK, 1908-1991).  Instead of just one scene it includes roughly seven vignettes, all blending into each other.  Notice how the sky above the bay becomes the snowy hillside below the lake.  I like the beams of light at the top, and all the little details, including the snowman at the lower left.

        Hiratsuka Un’ichi (Japan, 1895-1997) gives us a view after the storm, with everything still and impassive under its weight of snow and sky.  I always love when the wood grain shows in block prints, and I also like the low perspective, as if we’re standing among the stubbly grasses, looking across the frozen lake.  The colors, yellowish brown and purplish grey, are almost complementary, and yet read as if they blend softly.

        And finally, here’s someone staying safely out of the cold, in an engraving by E. Hubert Deines (USA, 1894-1967).  This is a rural scene rather than the suburban view from my own window, so my road is plowed and nor are our drifts so high.  Nevertheless, it’s always satisfying to look out at snow when you don’t have to go anywhere.

        If you’re living anywhere in a current cold snap, stay warm.  This is a time to breathe, relax, and gather strength for the digging out.

[Pictures: Dublin Under Snow, woodcut by Robert Gibbings, ca. 1921 (Image from V&A);

Midwinter, wood engraving by Gwenda Morgan, 1962 (Image from Kevis House);

Shinobazu Pond in Snow, color woodblock print by Hiratsuka Un’ichi, ca. 1925-35 (Image from Art Institute Chicago);

Maria Gazing Out of Window at the World Outside, wood engraving by E. Hubert Deines, 1936 (Image from Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art).]