For Master Henry’s Trailblazer Challenge I have decided to research and try to recreate Metalcuts. As far as I know, Metalcuts have not been done by anyone in the East Kingdom and quite possibly, in all of the Known World.
While researching period woodcuts I “discovered” Metalcuts and was struck by their naïve beauty. So far, I have been unsuccessful in creating a Metalcut but hope in the next year I can hone my skills.
The skill needed for producing a Metalcut is more a metalworking or (in period) a goldsmith/jewelers craft than the skill required for woodcuts.
The Metalcut was a phenomenon virtually restricted to the second half of the 15th Century and was practiced mainly in the Rhine regions, from the Netherlands upstream through Cologne to Basel and the Bordensee.
It was a medium that incorporated some of the qualities of both the woodcut and the engraving. Since prints are classified by their method of inking and printing the Metalcut is regarded as a relief print. Like a woodcut, the printing surface of a Metalcut is what remains of the original surface after it has been cut away. Round punches were often used on a Metalcut, therefore “dotted print”(in German; Schrottblat, in French; Maniere Criblee) can also be used to describe this art form.
Unlike a woodcut, single outlines are not as important in a Metalcut and large masses are often silhouetted and worked in a very decorative manner with burin and assorted punches. The work is printed as “white on black”, while the woodcut (and engraving) is printed as “black on white”.
Most scholars agree that the Metalcut had its origins in the goldsmithing trade and were occasionally created as objects in their own right. Never competing with the woodcut or engraving they strove to be a decorative object but by the end of the 15th Century, as woodcuts and engravings became enormously sophisticated the production of Metalcuts stopped.
The incredibly short “life span” of the Metalcut is what I find so compelling about them, plus their innocent charm. Therefore I have made it a personal goal in the coming year to try and recreate a Metalcut; with my burins, punches, copper plates and plenty of ideas. I hope I can succeed!