Blair Hughes-Stanton's Wood-Engraving

As a part of my internship at Burton Marinkovich Fine Art, I have been learning about printmaking. This technique involves creating a work of art by cutting into a piece of metal, copper, wood, stone, linoleum, etc. and placing ink either into the cuts ("valleys") or, conversely, onto everything that has not been cut. Finally, a piece of paper is pressed down onto the surface of the block, and the final work of art is created when the ink is transferred onto the paper. This process of pressing (and therefore creating the "print") can be redone many times; however, each print is considered an original artwork and not just a copy. There are many variations of printmaking, from etching to the linocut technique to wood-engraving.

As I was reading through a book titled Avant-Garde British Printmaking, I stumbled upon a chapter that focused on Surrealist printmaking. One wood-engraving specifically caught my attention: a work named Creation (1936) by Blair Hughes-Stanton.

Creation (1936)

When first looking at the picture, your mind is, in a way, forced to search for something that is familiar. Is there an animal hidden in the work? Perhaps a windowsill is situated in the distance? Or maybe at least a mop or broom is intersecting the picture? Either way, the viewer is left confused but also astonished at the work's beauty. Furthermore, the use of various different textures, shades, and designs reinforces this disorientation and confusion.

Throughout The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud describes a similar confusion when attempting to understand dreams. One example (out of many!) occurs in chapter 7.C. when referring to a dream he himself experienced.

Not only was its content senseless, but it failed to show any wish-fulfilment. But I began to search for the source of this incongruous expression of the solicitude felt during the day, and analysis revealed a connection.

Perhaps Blair Hughes-Stanton was attempting to represent the same type of disorientation experienced when remembering an extremely confusing dream. Although Hughes-Stanton was only briefly influenced by the Surrealists and although he may have not read these exact lines from Freud's most famous work, the idea he was trying to convey nonetheless may be interpreted as the confusion experienced during sleep. After all, even a brief encounter with Surrealism would have left, at the very least, a small impact on the wood-engraver, probably one involving dreams and disorienting the viewer.

Working for Mr. Burton and Ms. Marinkovich has been a wonderful learning experience and has even, unexpectedly, helped my research. I am still ecstatic with gratitude for this entire experience. Thank you for reading and please comment below if you have any feedback!