Death of a Forest

Maker Paul Landacre (American, 1893-1963)

Collections

ClassificationsPRINTS

Date1938

Mediumwood engraving

Dimensionsimage: 8 5/16 x 11 1/8 in. (21.1 x 28.3 cm.) sheet: 10 3/8 x 14 1/2 in. (26.4 x 36.8 cm.)

DescriptionDark hillside with flames and smoke

SignedSigned in lower right of recto in graphite: Paul Landacre

InscribedSigned in lower right of recto in graphite: Paul Landacre Inscribed in lower right of recto in graphite: To Florence 1937 Paul Inscribed in lower left of recto in graphite: 25/60 Death of a Forest Stamped in lower right of recto in red ink: [symbol] Inscribed in lower center of inside mat in graphite: Paul Cadmus / American (1893 - 1963) / "Death of Forest", 1938. Wood engraving on wove japanese paper. / Edition of 60.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of Hannah S. Kully

Status

Not on view

Label TextIn Death of a Forest, Landacre's elaborate system of hatching and crosshatching expresses the heat and smoke of a fire in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles, an all-too-common occurrence in late summer and early fall.

Writers on American prints, including curator Carl Zigrosser and printmaker Rockwell Kent, considered Landacre to be one of the best wood engravers in the United States. Landacre settled in Los Angeles in 1916, studied at the Otis School of Art and Design, and worked as a commercial illustrator. After experimenting with a variety of print media, he started wood engraving in 1927. The medium appealed to him for its ability to produce crisp distinctions between white and black.

Object number2014.30.88