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In 1919 Robert Gibbings formed the Society of Wood Engravers in order to promote the work of artist engravers. He was soon joined by Eric Gill. In 1920 the Society held its first exhibition. This proved to be very influential; it showed wood-engraving as an artistic medium and not just as a reproductive medium. The emphasis was now on artists who did their own engraving and who thus had greater control over the results. In 1924 he founded the Golden Cockerel Press to specialise in the printing of fine books illustrated by wood-engraving. This extended the artist's control to every aspect of the books production. These two events marked the birth of modern wood-engraving, and started a tradition that still carries on. The Golden Cockerel marks the start of the association of private high quality presses and wood-engraved books. It was not long before main stream publishers took up producing wood-engraved books as well, so that there is a wealth of excellent material for collectors to choose from, some of which have been printed in large enough numbers to make them reasonably available.
Robert Gibbings; "Sweet Cork of Thee"; 1951
There is a great wealth of wood-engravings produced in the twentieth century, ranging from rare private press books or individual hand crafted prints, through book plates to paperbacks such as the Penguin Illustrated Classics Series. Much of the work has been produced in Britain or Ireland, and much of the best by women artists.
Here just a few examples:
Farleigh, John - "The Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God", Bernard Shaw, 1932
Gill, Eric - Portrait of Petra, the artist's daughter, wood-engraving, 1922
Gregg, Barbara - "The Poacher's Handbook", Ian Niall, 1951
Hassall, Joan - "The Old Tree", 1950
Leighton, Clare - "Country Matters", 1937
Parker, Agnes Miller - "The Open Air", Richard Jefferies, Lutterworth Press, 1948
Reverat, Gwendolen - "Farmer's Glory", A G Street, 1934
The artist engravers inspired other illustrators of note, who used related techniques, such as Denis Watkins-Pitchford, otherwise known as BB. He produced many illustrations using scraperboards.
BB, The Quiet Fields, 1981
They also influenced the great countryside artist and contemporary of BB, C F Tunnicliffe
"Both Sides of the Road", Sidney Rogerson & C F Tunnicliffe
