LINOCUT

A characteristic of modern relief printing is the use of materials other than wood to create matrices, including linoleum.

Linoleum is made of a combination of linseed oil, ground cork, and gum spread on a canvas or burlap backing, creating a smooth, compact surface that can easily be engraved using gouges. This technique is not different from woodcut as the finished prints have the same aspect, but linoleum is easier to work than wood, as there are no knots and it is flexible, offering itself to fluid, spontaneous drawings. This material was patented by F. Walton in 1863 and has been used to make matrices for relief printing since the first years of this century.

Kandinsky and some Expressionists engraved on linoleum. Matisse was fascinated by its ease in working and used it in the simplest terms possible, creating a series of engravings of pure white lines on a black ground. Picasso too used linoleum to do a number of coloured linocuts between 1958 and 1964. In Italy, M. Maccari is a major exponent of linoleum engraving.

The evolution of linocuts is particularly interesting; it was developed in Poland after the second world war, where Grabowski and Starczewski analysed the structural elements of its graphic language, while Gielniak and Fijalkowski exploited it to evoke surreal and sometimes metaphysical atmospheres.

(from "tecniche dell'incisione originale" INClub Firenze)