Tulips

 

Blanche Lazzell

  1879 - 1956 (biography)

1920  

white line color woodcut 

11 15/16 x 11 9/16" image 

pencil signed, lower left 

This is the 2nd impression from the block. Lazzell's record book recorded 11 impressions. The block  

dated 1920 after signature, titled in lower right; inscribed verso "74/2" 

Acton 18; Lazzell 32; a later impression is illustrated on page 83 in A Spectrum of Innovation: Color in American Printmaking 

fibrous antique-white wove 

unique 

artist 

18247 

SOLD

Born in Maidsville, West Virginia on Oct. 10, 1878 Blanch Lazzell went on to become the most noted and distinctive printmaker in what became to be known as the Provincetown Printmakers, a group of printmakers working with woodcut using the single block or "white-line" technique in Provincetown, Mass in the early 20th century.

Using a single block Lazzell worked out her design and cut and gouged out the line that separated the colors. Each area of color was then applied to the block separately and printed. The separating lines print as a white line and each impression taken from the block is unique.

This beautifully printed, early woodcut has a Vorticist feel with the swirl of the petals leading to the central black shape within the vase. This is the 74th print Lazzell printed and is the second impression from the block.

There is an extensive analysis of another impression of this woodcut in the book "A Spectrum of Innovation / Color in American Printmaking 1890 - 1960" by David Acton, Worcester Art Museum, 1990, pages 82 & 83. There is also a biography on page 270.

For further biographical information, images and her influence on other printmakers see "Blanche Lazzell and the Color Woodcut," by Barbara Stern Shapiro, MFA Publications, 2002.

Blanche Lazzell died in Morgantown, West VA on June 1, 1956 at the age of 77. She had completed 138 color prints.