Trepied

Frank Morley Fletcher

British born printmaker Frank Morley Fletcher only did fourteen color woodcuts, yet his influence on the medium in both England and America is immeasurable. He did this color woodcut in 1910. In 1923 Fletcher moved to Santa Barbara, to teach at the new Santa Barbara School of the Arts where he taught color woodcut to a generation of California printmakers.

"Trepiad" was done while Fletcher was the director of the Edinburgh School of the Arts in Scotland. It is his only print with a French subject. Trepied (Tripod), named for the triangular borders of the town, is part of Cucq-Trepied-Stella-Plage. Cucq is made up of three villages: Cucq itself, Trepied in the north and the coastal resort of Stella-Plage to the west.

An article by print curator Nancy E. Green titled "Frank Morley Fletcher and the Japanese Color Print" comments about his early woodcuts:

"The printing itself is carefully thought out and deliberate, not surprising in a man of Fletcher's temperament. Muted colors are often contrasted with saturated bright greens and turquoise; in this he paid homage to Puvis de Chavannes, the French artist Fletcher admired (above all others) for his selection of beautiful tones and colors and for the spiritual harmony found in all his works. Fletcher was also adept at 'bokashi', the careful grading of dark color to light in specific areas within the composition..."