Wood Engraving Wednesday

English/American artist, writer, and illustrator Clare Leighton (1898-1989) was a frequent visitor to Cape Cod in all seasons during her lifetime, and in 1954 she produced these wood engravings to express her fondness for this part of the American experience. She writes:

Because I love this particular earth and sea I have tried to show the basic, enduring life of Cape Cod. Too many of us come here only during the months of summer, when the scene is cluttered with vacationists, and the true spirit of the land is forced into hiding. . . . But fully to love Cape Cod, we must live the loneliness of the winter, and be fearless against the assault of a northeaster. . . . Only then can we enjoy to the full those incomparable days of sun and sea that come in their due season. But, . . . of greater value is the life of the workers upon the land and sea. . . . If you should know and love Cape Cod you must be aware of the fishermen and their families.

Such is evident in these engravings, reproduced in Clare Leighton’s Rural Life: An Anthology, published in Oxford by the Bodleian Library in 2023. The book was edited with an introduction by Leighton’s devoted nephew, David Leighton (1931-2022), who sadly did not live to see its publication.

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