This, the 74th annual exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers opens in Oxford before touring the UK and ending in London. Wood and allied engraving provides an extraordinary delicacy that allows the artist to expose the depth and detail their subject matter, as in Anne Desmet’s Olympic Shadows (pictured).
Here an aerial view of London’s great stadium is framed by a sinuous river on one side, the business that needed to accompany great sporting events on two others, and the shadow itself on the fourth side as other shadows cast their presence across the stadium itself.
The clarity and detail that Desmet achieves in this tiny piece (120 x 166mm) is breathtaking. A slightly bigger piece (200 x 150mm), using lino cut, is of a different setting. Here Di Oliver portrays her great ‘O’ in Piazza Amfiteatro, Lucca.
An ancient piazza is the centrepiece, and via intricate lino cuts Oliver is able to bring to life the intense jumble of Mediterranean architecture that crowds around it. The contrast between the open space and the habitation is emphasised by eight tiny figures in the piazza, itself.
Other subject matter ranges from the more traditional, such as Edward Stamp’s Dartmoor Farm, where he captures mercurial weather, farmed land and scrub, with a secure homestead nestling at the bottom of a central valley. Among the downright whacky is a coloured lino-print in which Jim Anderson celebrates Mr & Mrs Kong Out on The Town, as a distinctly un-scary ape carries his Beryl Cook-type lady up and away and in the process carelessly knocks over a number of skyscrapers.
The comparatively diminutive size of the 130 pieces on show creates a compact exhibition and one that will reward the time spent on exploring each piece fully.
Art Jericho is open from Tuesday to Sunday. The show continues until October 23.
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