Linocut (from
‘linoleum’ and ‘woodcut’) is a variety of engraving in which a pattern is cut
on a sheet of linoleum or other polymeric material and then printed on a paper.
Invented in the early 20th century, the method is in many ways
similar to xylography.
It is one of the
simplest relief printing techniques.
Linoleum was first used instead of a wood block in 1905 (as a floor covering,
linoleum dates to the 1860s) by artists from the German association called “Die
Brucke”, when they wanted to print big posters but could not find a wood block
large enough for the purpose.
The method of
linocut is essentially the same as that of xylography: the engraver employs
gouges of different shapes and sizes to cut a design, traced through a tracing
paper, on the smooth surface of linoleum (usually battleship linoleum up to 3
millimetres thick) and incises small details with a knife. Then an ink
consisting of a pigment and a liquid binder is applied to the raised surface
with a roller. As a result, the lines remain white and the background becomes
black. As in xylography, the main distinction of linocuts is sharp contrasts
between black and white. It was not for nothing that linocut was favoured by
artists whose creative method emphasises expressiveness, contrasts and
conciseness. Besides, linocuts are cheaper, more tractable to the burin and
afford better opportunities for working with colour. But unlike a woodcut, a
linocut is more decorative: the lines are clearer, smoother and more fluent,
because they are impressed, not into a wood, but into a soft pliant surface.
While in xylography the cut lines are sharp, in linocuts they are wider, have
rounded tips and clear-cut edges. So, to avoid sharp contrasts and to turn the
limitations of the technique into a potential for originality and
expressiveness, artists had to invent new methods of linear and cross-hatching
and application of spots.
The first Russian engraver to try his hand at linocut was Vasily Mathe’s student Nikolay Sheverdyaev, who exhibited his linocuts in Paris in 1906. In 1907, with Sheverdyaev’s assistance, the method was adopted by Ivan Pavlov, who elaborated all the main tricks of the craft that gained currency among Russian linocut masters. Linocut prints were also created by Yelizaveta Kruglikova, Boris Kustodiev, Ilya Sokolov, Vadim Falileev, Victor Zamirailo, Alexey Kravchenko, Dmitry Mitrokhin, Vladimir Favorsky.
Illarion Golitzyn
produced linocuts in the 1960s. The linocut technique to this day remains one
of the most popular methods of printmaking.
