#Nigel Hamway

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Wood Engraving Wednesday

PETER HOLLAND

This engraving of Magnolias by English artist Peter Holland (1915-2004), printed from the original block, is from 2020 Vision: Nineteen Wood Engravers, One Collector, and the Artists Who Inspired Them, compiled and introduced by collector Nigel Hamway, edited by English wood engraver Peter Lawrence, and printed in 2020 by Patrick Randle’s Nomad Letterpress at the Whittington Press in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in an edition of 340 copies for the 100th anniversary of the Society of Wood Engravers. 

Holland himself never exhibited or sold a wood engraving in his life. He was an architect by profession who worked for the Ministry of Works. He taught himself wood engraving in his spare time, producing over 80 finely executed, closely observed images, mainly of the natural world. He was deeply inspired by his friendships with master engravers John Farleigh and Monica Poole. Holland was also the father of the editor of 2020 Vision Nigel Hamway's oldest friend, and inspired Hamway to begin his collection of wood engravings. Hamway included this print in the book as an homage to his mentor and because it is Holland's own homage to the work of Farleigh and Poole. Peter Holland's son Paul writes:

My father continued to engrave until late in his life and loved going to the shop of T N Lawrence in Bleeding Heart Yard to buy blocks. He was a prolific sketcher and sought inspiration for his engravings from his drawings, as well as the cottage and its beautiful garden where he and his wife Mavis lived for over fifty years.

View other posts from 2020 Vision.

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Wood Engraving Wednesday

GEORGE TUTE & PETER REDDICK

These two prints come from our recent acquisition 2020 Vision: Nineteen Wood Engravers, One Collector, and the Artists Who Inspired Them, compiled and introduced by collector Nigel Hamway, edited by English wood engraver Peter Lawrence, and printed in 2020 by Patrick Randle’s Nomad Letterpress at the Whittington Press in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in an edition of 340 copies for the 100th anniversary of the Society of Wood Engravers. Hamway asked nineteen of his favorite engravers to choose a major artistic influence, write an introduction about why they feel this way and, wherever possible, to work on a new engraving which sits side-by-side in the book with an engraving or illustration by their inspirer. The result is a unique collection, linking past with present, and a fitting tribute to the skills of the engravers and the part played by the Society in the history of wood engraving. We will be showing more examples from this book over the next several weeks.

In chapter 19, English wood engraver Paul L. Kershaw writes about his inspiration, the British printer and founder of the Fleece Press, Simon Lawrence, a scion of the Lawrence family, manufacturers of fine engravers' boxwood blocks, and “a master printer” who “has set me the best example I could have hoped for; I’m blessed,” writes Kershaw. In an unusual presentation for this volume, the Lawrence example is a folded Fleece Press printing of these two wood engravings by Lawrence’s own inspirations: Piers the Dragon Slayer by George Tute and The Death of William Rufus by Peter Reddick. Of these two English engravers, Lawrence writes:

A few years before I found wood engraving, Peter and George collaborated on mythological subjects for the Reader’s Digest Folklore, Myths & Legends of Britain (1973). I couldn’t distinguish their work at that time and the two Bristolians seemed to form a strong regional style. These artists were among the few who kept the craft alive at a quiet time, & have always been among the brightest stars in the engravers’ firmament. The engravings have been printed by hand on my 1853 Albion Press, the type first printed on dry paper which was then dampened to take the engravings, as I always do. Simon Lawrence, March 2019.

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