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Fangs and forked tongue on a red background. Tales From The Crypt 17. April 1950.

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.

Josef Hník