Woodcuts and Linoleum Blocks

Artist Max Weber (American, 1881-1961)

Publisher E. Weyhe, New York, 1956

Date1956

DimensionsSlipcase: H: 10 3/16 in. (258 mm); W: 6 7/8 in. (175 mm); Depth: 3/4 in. (19 mm).
Book: H: 9 7/8 in. (251 mm); W: 6 3/4 in. (172 mm); Depth: 11/16 in. (17 mm).
Page: H: 9 15/16 in. (252 mm); W: 6 3/8 in. (162 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 34 woodcuts and linoleum cuts in brown on off-white china (?) paper. Text: letterpress on white wove paper.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.1181

Not on View

Label TextWeber was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 10 years old, eventually studying art at the Pratt Institute and then in Paris. There, from 1905 to 1909, he encountered new developments in European art, like the birth of Cubism. During the 1920s his work often paid homage to such European artists as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Rousseau, as well as to tribal African art. These influences are seen in his expressive style that abstracts and simplifies the human figure. Weber wrote in the foreword to this book,"Most of the woodcuts in this volume were made from the walls of honeycomb cases. The soft silk-like quality of the basswood had a strong plastic appeal."