About the display
This display of wood engravings and woodcuts from Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) to the present day addresses the dynamic relationship between the printed page and the materials used in its production.
In particular, it considers both the implications of the woodblock itself and also touches on other qualities of the book as object, including paper and bindings.
The display marks the centenary of the Society of British Wood Engravers through the inclusion of a number of works by its members but also through its celebration of a form of book making which, like the material it employs, is tough, beautiful and enduring.
Lead image: Gaylord Schanilec, 'Sylvae' (Midnight Paper Sales, 2008) Rec. c.175
Gaylord Schanilec’s 'Sylvae', a book which celebrates the idea of wood through its very embodiment: its binding is made from trees from his land and its pages bear their direct imprint.
