Why I use linocuts

For me, the attractiveness of linocuts lies in it´s simplicity. This is quite the opposite to what I use in my professional life. As a scientist I am used to apply the latest sophisticated methodologies available. Paper cuts and linocuts balance this complexity, forcing me to a slower pace and concentration on the larger topic rather than the details.

Materials

I use only acid free papers: 100% cotton rag papers (250 gsm or 100 gsm) and Japanese washi papers (20-30 gsm), a traditional paper made of the fibres of the Gampi, mitsumata, and paper mulberry trees.

How I print them

I handprint all prints either by burnishing the image using a wooden spoon or by using a manual printing press. Thus, each print is different. I make limited editions of mainly 18 or 24 prints each.

What are linocuts?

Linocutting is a printing technique similar to wood prints but without allowing the latter´s complex composition and design. Linoleum was only discovered in the 1860s and then used as a cheap floor covering. As a printing technique, linocuts were introduced by the artists group sDie Brücke in Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. Although not never really widespread, it became fashionable in poor regions and sections of society as well as avant-garde artists, especially in Eastern Europe. Widespread to teach pupils printing, it remains also attractive as a means of artistic expression. Picasso and Matisse, to name but a view, embraced the technique in more recent times.

History of Jewish linocuts

Although linocuts share the simplicity of paper cuts, it never became established as a Jewish folk art. However, some Jewish avant-garted artists adopted the technique as a versatile form of expression of Jewish life and topics. Linocuts have targeted a wide variety of themes, ranging from depiction of stetl life, ethnographic studies and illustrations to book, to works with symbolic and metaphorical meanings.

One of the foremost pioneers was Solomon Yudovin (1892-1954), born in the Belarusion region of Vitebsk (Yiddish: וויטעבסק‎), the same region where Marc Chagall stems from.

Another outstanding artists was Evžen Morvay (1902-1945) from Slovakia, who studied at the art academies in Jerusalem and in Prague and whose life was cut short by his deportation in 1944.