Woodcuts by Philip Sutton 1950s-1970s
Philip Sutton RA is probably best known for large and highly coloured paintings of landscape, flowers and people. Since he was at the Slade in the 1950s, however, he has been fascinated by printmaking and, in particular, the woodcut -- 'excited by cutting into the wood block with different tools' and 'by the print's blackness, the unexpected marks of the wood grain . . .'
The blocks printed from in this remarkable book were cut at different times. Self-portraits date from the 1950's while a number of joyous portraits of his children were cut when the family went to live in Fiji in 1963.
From a later date still come a series of wonderful nude studies, cut (as was the case with all the blocks) from life. Marks which would seem of amazing assurance and subtlety if made by pencil on paper are all the more astonishing when made by a knife on a sheet of wood! Apart from three short prefaces, there is no text or any other distraction. The blocks are simply allowed to made their own impact, alone on separate pages and screened from others by interleaving sheets of richly coloured and textured paper.
Editions & Inscriptions
Copies of the Main Edition are First 50 copies signed and numbered by artist and printer.
Copies of the Special Edition are 10 copies, numbered I-X, have three separate signed proofs (£950) A further 10 copies, numbered XI-XX, have two proofs (£850) and 10 copies, numbered XXI-XXX, have one (£750.)
Bulmer type, computer generated and printed from polymer blocks. Printed on damped Somerset mould-made paper (280gsm), with interleaving of Hahnemuhle Bugra Butten paper, on a FAG Control 900 press. 27 woodcuts printed from the wood. Bound with yellow cloth spine, titled in red. Blue paper sides with large woodcut printed in black on upper cover. Black endpapers. Box covered with vermilion cloth with woodcut portrait of the artist mounted on the front, lined with black paper.
Philip Sutton RA, his family & his friends
Published in 1998
430 x 440 mm
Editions & Availability
80 copies were printed of the Main Edition and copies are available to buy at £550 each.
ISBN: 978-0-907664-42-0
Only 30 copies were printed of the Special Edition and copies are available to purchase at £750, £850, £950 each.
Purchase Enquiry
If you would like to purchase this book, please contact us, letting us know which edition you are interested in and your address.
Media Notes