Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

technique, a variant of

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

in which a sheet of

linoleum Linoleum, sometimes shortened to lino, is a floor covering made from materials such as solidified linseed oil (linoxyn), Pine Resin, pine resin, ground Cork (material), cork dust, sawdust, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most com ...

(sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped

chisel A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, stru ...

or gouge, with the raised (uncarved) areas representing a reversal (mirror image) of the parts to show printed. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a

brayer A brayer is a hand-tool used historically in printing and printmaking to break up and "rub out" (spread) ink, before it was "beaten" using inking balls or composition rollers. The word is derived from the verb to "bray", meaning "to break, pound ...

), and then impressed onto paper or fabric. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

Technique

Since the material being carved has no directional grain and does not tend to split, it is easier to obtain certain artistic effects with lino than with most woods, although the resultant prints lack the often angular grainy character of woodcuts and

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

s. Lino is generally diced, much easier to cut than wood, especially when heated, but the pressure of the printing process degrades the plate faster and it is difficult to create larger works due to the material's fragility. Linocuts can also be achieved by the careful application of arts on the surface of the lino. This creates a surface similar to a soft ground

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and these caustic-lino plates can be printed in either a

, intaglio or a

viscosity printing The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the in ...

manner. Colour linocuts can be made by using a different block for each colour as in a woodcut, as the artists of the

Grosvenor School The Grosvenor School of Modern Art was a private British art school and, in its shortened form ("Grosvenor School"), the name of a brief British-Australian art movement. It was founded in 1925 by the Scottish wood engraver Iain Macnab in his ho ...

frequently did, but, as

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

demonstrated, such prints can also be achieved using a single piece of linoleum in what is called the 'reductive' print method. Essentially, after each successive colour is imprinted onto the paper, the artist then cleans the lino plate and cuts away what will not be imprinted for the subsequently applied colour.Judging the Authenticity of Prints by The Masters
by David Rudd Cycleback. Retrieved: 2011-12-17. Due to ease of use, linocut is widely used in schools to introduce children to the art of printmaking, using it to complete many tasks in the art lesson rather than going straight for the pencil and eraser; similarly, non-professional artists often cut lino rather than wood for printing. Nevertheless, in the contemporary art world the linocut is an established professional print medium, because of its extensive use by the artists of the Grosvenor School, followed by Pablo Picasso and

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

Emergence of the technique in America

In 1911 “linoleum art” was first displayed in New York City by the Czech émigré Vojtěch Preissig. In his publications on linocuts (1926–29) the respected American printmaker,

Pedro Joseph de Lemos Pedro Joseph de Lemos (25 May 1882 – 5 December 1954) was an American painter, printmaker, architect, illustrator, writer, lecturer, museum director and art educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to about 1930 he used the simpler name Ped ...

, simplified the methods for art schools and introduced new techniques for color linocuts, including the printing of the key block first. The first large-scale colour linocuts made by an American artist were created ca. 1943–45 by

Walter Inglis Anderson Walter Inglis Anderson (September 29, 1903 – November 30, 1965) was an American painter and writer. Anderson died from cancer November 30, 1965, at the age of 62. Early life and education Anderson was born in New Orleans to George Walter A ...

, and exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 1949.

Selected artists

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, ...

, German artist *

Peeter Allik Peeter Allik (June 28, 1966 in Põltsamaa – December 31, 2019 in Tartu) was an Estonian artist and Surrealist ( black and white dactyloscopic tendency). He graduated from University of Tartu. In 1997, he became the first laureate of Ado Va ...

, Estonian artist *

Valenti Angelo Valenti Angelo (1897-1982) (variant name Valenti Michael Angelo) was an Italian-American printmaker, illustrator and author, born June 23, 1897 in Massarosa, Italy. He immigrated to the United States, living first in New York City then sett ...

, American printmaker and illustrator *

American artist *

Sybil Andrews Sybil Andrews (19 April 1898 – 21 December 1992) was an English-Canadian artist who specialised in printmaking and is best known for her modernist linocuts. Life in England Born in 1898 in Bury St Edmunds, Andrews was unable to go straigh ...

English-Canadian artist *

Hans Anton Aschenborn Hans Anton Aschenborn (1 February 1888 – 10 April 1931) was a renowned animal painter of African wildlife. He is the father of Dieter Aschenborn and the grandfather of Hans Ulrich Aschenborn, both painters. Hans Anton worked both in Germany ...

, German painter *

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his subjects upside down in an effort to overcome the ...

, German artist *

Torsten Billman Torsten Edvard Billman (6 May 1909 – 6 April 1989) was a Swedish artist who worked as a printmaker, illustrator, and buon fresco painter. He counts as one of the 20th century's premier wood-engravers.Emma Bormann Emma Bormann (1887–1974) was an Austrian artist (primarily a printmaker) who lived in Vienna, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Riverside, California. Biography Emma Bormann was born in 1887 in Vienna. Her father, Eugen Bormann (1842–1917), was an arc ...

, Austrian printmaker and painter *

Gail Brodholt Gail Brodholt is an English artist known primarily for her oil paintings and linocut prints. She lives in Beckenham and works in Woolwich, both in South East London. Background Brodholt studied at the School of Fine Art at Kingston University. ...

, English artist *

Horace Brodzky Horace Ascher Brodzky (30 January 1885 – 11 February 1969) was an Australian-born artist and writer most of whose work was created in London and New York. His work included paintings, drawings and linocuts, of which he was an early pioneer. An as ...

, Australian/British artist * Angel Botello, Spanish-Puerto Rican artist
Chris Bourke
British artist *

Carlos Cortez Carlos Cortez (August 13, 1923 – January 19, 2005) was a poet, graphic artist, photographer, muralist and political activist, active for six decades in the Industrial Workers of the World. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1923, the son of a ...

, American poet and artist *

David Call David Steven Call (born August 14, 1982) is an American actor. Personal life Call was born in Issaquah, Washington. He is a graduate student of the Tisch School of the Arts and the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School. Acting career Call's ...

, American Deaf artist *

Stanley Donwood Dan Rickwood (born 29 October 1968), known professionally as Stanley Donwood, is an English artist and writer. Since 1994, he has created all the artwork for the rock band Radiohead with their singer Thom Yorke, plus Yorke's other projects. He ...

, British artist *

Yvonne Drewry Yvonne Drewry (18 February 1918 – 9 August 2007) was an English artist and art teacher, noted for her work in and around Suffolk. Early life and education Yvonne Marjorie Drewry was born in Brentford, Middlesex, to Alfred F. Vere Drewry (1888 ...

, English artist *

Janet Doub Erickson Janet Ann Doub Erickson (June 29, 1924 – September 3, 2021) was an American graphic artist and writer who popularized linoleum-block and woodblock printing in the post-World War II period. She was a co-founder of the Blockhouse of Boston, an in ...

, American printmaker and artist *

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

, Dutch artist *

Bill Fick Bill Fick is a printmaker living and working in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Fick is the director of Cockeyed Press, which specializes in the production of satirical linocut prints and book production. He is also a member of the Outlaw Printmakers. ...

, American printmaker and illustrator *

Folly Cove Designers The Folly Cove Designers were a mid-20th-century group of United States, American artists block printing in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Cape Ann. Their blocks were made of linoleum, and they primarily printed on fabric. ...

American design collective *

Jacques Hnizdovsky Jacques Hnizdovsky ( uk, Яків Гніздовський, pl, Jakub Gniazdowski, hr, Jakiv Hnizdovskij), (1915–1985) was a Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and sculptor. Biography Jacques Hnizdovs ...

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

American artist *

Helmi Juvonen Helmi Dagmar Juvonen (January 17, 1903 – October 17, 1985) was an American artist active in Seattle, Washington. Although she worked in a wide variety of media, she is best known for her prints, paintings, and drawings. She is associated with t ...

, American artist *

William Kermode William A. Kermode MC (1895–1959) was an Australian artist. He illustrated Henry Williamson's ''The Patriot's Progress'', published in 1930. The illustrations were linocuts, an unusual medium. William Kermode was born in Hobart, Tasmania i ...

, Australian illustrator * Gaga Kovenchuk, Russian artist *

, French painter *

, Spanish painter *

Cyril Edward Power Cyril Edward Power (17 December 1872 – 25 May 1951) was an English artist best known for his linocut prints, long-standing artistic partnership with artist Sybil Andrews and for co-founding the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London in 1925. ...

, English artist *

Everett Ruess Everett Ruess (March 28, 1914 – ''c.'' November 1934) was an American artist, poet, and writer. He carried out solo explorations of the High Sierra, the California coast, and the deserts of the American Southwest. In 1934, he disappeared while ...

, American painter, printmaker, writer, and poet *

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (Karl Schmidt until 1905; 1 December 1884 – 10 August 1976) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker; he was one of the four founders of the artist group Die Brücke. Life and work Schmidt-Rottluff was born in ...

, German printmaker and painter * John Shaw, American/Canadian painter and printmaker *

Irena Sibley Irena Sibley (16 June 1943 – 29 March 2009), born Irena Justina Pauliukonis, was an Australian artist, writer, illustrator of children's books, and art teacher. Personal life Her mother Anele and father Zenonas Pauliukonis fled communist-o ...

, Australian artist, children's book author, and art teacher *

James Blanding Sloan James Blanding Sloan (September 19, 1886 – October 5, 1975), also known as Blanding Sloan, was an American etcher, printmaker, theatrical designer, educator, painter, and puppeteer. Biography J. Blanding Sloan was the first son born to Alexande ...

, American printmaker, educator, and theatrical designer *

Ethel Spowers Ethel Louise Spowers (11 July 1890 – 5 May 1947) was an Australian artist associated with the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. She was especially known for her linocuts, which are included in the collections of major Australian and ...

, Australian printmaker *

Ken Sprague Kenneth Ray Sprague (born July 14, 1945) is an American bodybuilder, businessman, author and school teacher. He is best known as the owner of the original Gold's Gym in Venice, Los Angeles, which he owned and managed between the years 1972 and ...

, English artist and activist *

Hannah Tompkins Hannah Minthorne Tompkins (August 28, 1781 – February 18, 1829) was the wife of Daniel D. Tompkins, the governor of New York, and later vice president of the United States, and thus was the first lady of New York 1807 to 1817 and then th ...

, American artist and printmaker *

Tom Hazelmyer Tom Hazelmyer (born 1965) is an American musician and printmaker. He is known as the founder and owner of the independent label Amphetamine Reptile Records as well as being the lead vocalist and songwriter for the band Halo of Flies. Biograp ...

, American artist * Greg Mathias, French artist *

Gwen Frostic Gwen Frostic (April 26, 1906 – April 25, 2001) born as Sara Gwendolen Frostic, was an American artist, entrepreneur, author, and Michigan Women's Hall of Fame inductee. A lifelong resident of Michigan, Frostic is known for her naturalist, Linoc ...

, American artist, poet, printmaker, writer * Batukhan Baimen, Kazakh artist

References

External links

Large scale hand printed linocut video

Explanation of art term 'Linocut' on Tate Gallery website
{{Authority control Printmaking Relief printing Woodcuts fi:Taidegrafiikka#Linoleikkaus

Technique

Emergence of the technique in America

Selected artists

See also

References

Further reading

External links