Robert Gibbings (Ireland, 1889-1958) was very influential in reviving wood engraving as an artistic medium in the twentieth century. He worked as an illustrator, author, and publisher, so he was instrumental in defining how relief printing was used throughout a formative period of twentieth century art and design. The thing about his work that strikes me is the variety of styles he uses over the course of his career. Early on he was influenced by cubism and modernism, which you can see in this most excellent castle. There’s definitely something cubist about the perspective and the shading of the blocks that make up the architecture.
He also developed something he called a “vanishing line” technique, in which many edges and outlines are missing. This is a style that fascinates me, in large part because I find myself utterly unable to do it. It requires far more faith in one’s own artistic ability, in the possibilities of graphic design, and in the eyes of the beholder than I have ever been able to summon. This woman is certainly not the most extreme example, but it’s one of my favorites. Is she contemplating the next move in a chess game, or is she staring at some other sort of “Problem” to be solved? With so many details elided I can’t tell for sure, but it’s amazing to me how much we do see in this image, even though it isn’t really there: the whole shape of the woman’s head and body.
By contrast, this scene of a mill is quite realistic, without any hint of cubism. Nevertheless, you can see Gibbings’s ability to leave out a lot of details and outlines. I particularly love how the smaller branches of the trees are dashed lines, and the shaded area between the two wings of the mill is entirely black. I admire how little carving it takes to pick out an entire scene in small details of white, and I love the serenity of a place that’s been conjured out of so little.
This last piece is from much later in Gibbings’s career, and by now his style is full of fine textures and little details for an entirely different look. He was particularly successful writing and illustrating travel memoirs, and this detailed style served well to share scenes from his travels all around the world. (All this travel was possible because he wasn’t much concerned with family responsibility! But for today I’m just here to share the relief prints.)
I’ve featured a few other pieces by Gibbings in past posts, and it’s well worth revisiting Sea Creatures, Under Snow, and Year of the Snake to see more pieces that demonstrate the wide range of styles that strikes me so much about his work.
[Pictures: Castle at Saumur, wood engraving by Robert Gibbings, c. 1925 (Image from V&A);
The Problem, woodcut by Gibbings, 1921 (Image from V&A);
The Mill, wood engraving by Gibbings, 1920s (Image from V&A);
Standing Stones, wood engraving by Gibbings, 1951 (Image from V&A).]
