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O'Keeffe, G. (1931). Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/cows-skull-red-white-and-blue.jsp [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].‌

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Example of O'Keeffe skull. Cow skull. Front view, realistic.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1935). Ram’s Head with Hollyhock. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/rams-head.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Ram skull with flower above NM landscape. Magical realism. Realistically rendered skull. Notably stormy sky.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1931). Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/cows-skull-with-calico-roses.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Cow skull with flowers

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O’Keeffe, G. (1937). From the Faraway Nearby. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/from-faraway-nearby.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Elk/deer skull above NM landscape, showcasing magical realism. Large sky.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1936). Summer Days. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/summer-days.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Skull and flowers above NM mountains. Magical realism.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1938). Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/rams-head-blue-morning-glory.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Ram skull with flower.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1936). Deer’s Skull with Pedernal. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/deer-skull-with-pedernal.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Deer skull with NM landscape and large blue sky.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1943). Pelvis with the Distance. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/pelvis-with-the-distance.jsp [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Magical realism pelvic bone with NM landscape in the background.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1931). Horse’s Skull with White Rose. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/horse-skull-with-white-rose.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Horse's skull and white rose on a black background. Realistically painted, front view.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1944). Black Place. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/black-place.jsp [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Painting based on Georgia's visits to the Bisti Badlands in the Navajo Nation, New Mexico.

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O’Keeffe, G. (1952). Red Tree, Yellow Sky. [Oil on Canvas] Available at: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/assets/img/paintings/red-tree-yellow-sky.jpg [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024].

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Dead cedar tree near Georgia's Ghost Ranch.

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Photograph of Georgia's hands holding a horse's skull. Not Georgia's work however I feel it is significant in its illustration of Georgia's affinity for and deep aesthetic appreciation for skulls.

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Photograph of the Bisti Badlands that inspired Georgia O'Keeffe on many visits. It is a landscape formed by erosion of an ancient seabed.

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In Mobili, M. (2018). New Mexico Bisti, De-Na-Zin (45834811212). [Photograph] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Mexico_Bisti,_De-Na-Zin_(45834811212).jpg [Accessed 3 Oct. 2024].

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Photograph of another area of the Bisti Badlands. The dramatic eroded shapes of the landscape are incredibly striking to me.

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"“When I think of death, I only regret that I will not be able to see this beautiful country anymore, unless the Indians are right, and my spirit will walk here after I’m gone,” O’Keeffe said in a 1967 interview." (Susan Montoya Bryan, 2010.)

I may be reading too much into this but I think this quote and sentiment has a hopeful quality to it - that O'Keeffe might continue to be in the landscape she loves so much.

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Sandstone cliffs rise from the desert floor in layers of orange, pink and yellow, limited only by the expansive blue sky that pushes down on the sprawling northern New Mexico ranch from above. Save f…

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The Associated Press (2010). Drawn to Georgia O’Keeffe country. Oregon Live. [online] Available at: https://www.oregonlive.com/travel/2010/05/drawn_to_georgia_okeeffe_count.html [Accessed 3 Oct. 2024].

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"She died in 1986 at age 98. Her ashes were scattered from atop Pedernal."

After her death in a Santa Fe hospital, O'Keeffe was cremated and had her remains scattered, as she wished, in the landscape she loved so much. This aspect of her life is incredibly poignant and significant to me and her remains ultimately becoming a part of the place she loved so much is very beautiful.

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Visitors to Ghost Ranch will find the actual clay hills and cliffs that inspired paintings.

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Artotem (2011). Ghost Ranch - The Mountain She Claimed. [Photograph] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/artotemsco/6091232496 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2024].‌

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Cerro Pedernal / Tsip’in / Hest'e'yanyik'othe, New Mexico

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Cerro Pedernal / Tsip’in / Hest'e'yanyik'othe, New Mexico

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Cerro Pedernal, NM. O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch overlooked the mountain and she frequently painted and drew it. After her death her ashes were scattered on its summit, as she had requested.

In the Tewa language, a language of the Pueblo Nations indigenous peoples of the region, the mountain is known as Tsip’in. Other nearby Pueblo Nations peoples know the mountain in Cochiti as Hest'e'yanyik'othe.

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Friedman, J. (2011). Pedernal Youngsville1. [Photograph] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pedernal_Youngsville1.jpg [Accessed 3 Oct. 2024].

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View of Cerro Pedernal during summer monsoon weather.

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Thomas, G. (2011). AbiquiuLakeNM. [Photograph] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AbiquiuLakeNM.jpg [Accessed 3 Oct. 2024].

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View North from the summit of Cerro Pedernal, where O'Keeffe's ashes were scattered.

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Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (n.d.). Biography. [online] okeeffemuseum.org/. Available at: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2024].

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First Visits, Subsequent Summers, and Long Awaited Move to NM

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First Visits, Subsequent Summers, and Long Awaited Move to NM

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In the summer of 1929, O'Keeffe made her first visit to New Mexico.

"The stark landscape and Native American and Hispanic cultures of the region inspired a new direction in O’Keeffe’s art" (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, n.d.).

Over the following 20 years she would visit and stay for most of the summers. After the death of her partner she moved permanently in 1949.

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"I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it."

Biography

Alfred Stieglitz. Georgia O'Keeffe at "291", 1917. Platinum print, 9 9/16 x 7 5/8 inches. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Gift of the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation. [2003.1.1]

Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the most significant artists of the 20 th century, renowned for her contribution to modern art. Born on November 15, 1887, the second of seven children, Georgia Totto O'Keeffe grew up on a farm near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. By the time she graduated from high school in 1905, O'Keeffe had determined to make her way as an artist. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York, where she learned the techniques of traditional painting. The direction of her artistic practice shifted dramatically four years later when she studied the revolutionary ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow offered O'Keeffe an alternative to established ways of thinking about art. She experimented with abstraction for two years while she taught art in West Texas. Through a series of abstract charcoal drawings, she developed a personal language to better express her feelings and ideas.

O'Keeffe mailed some of these highly abstract drawings to a friend in New York City. Her friend showed them to Alfred Stieglitz, the art dealer and renowned photographer, who would eventually become O'Keeffe's husband. He became the first to exhibit her work, in 1916.

By the mid-1920s, O'Keeffe was recognized as one of America's most important and successful artists, known for her paintings of New York skyscrapers-an essentially American symbol of modernity-as well as her equally radical depictions of flowers.

In the summer of 1929, O'Keeffe made the first of many trips to northern New Mexico. The stark landscape and Native American and Hispanic cultures of the region inspired a new direction in O'Keeffe's art. For the next two decades she spent most summers living and working in New Mexico. She made the state her permanent home in 1949, three years after Stieglitz's death.

Georgia O'Keeffe. Ram's Head, Blue Morning Glory, 1938. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Burnett Foundation. © Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. [2007.1.24] Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART

O'Keeffe's New Mexico paintings coincided with a growing interest in regional scenes by American Modernists seeking a distinctive view of the nation. In the 1950s, O'Keeffe began to travel internationally. She painted and sketched works that evoke the spectacular places she visited, including the mountain peaks of Peru and Japan's Mount Fuji. At the age of seventy-three, she took on a new subject: aerial views of clouds and sky. Suffering from macular degeneration and failing vision, O'Keeffe painted her last unassisted oil painting in 1972. However, O'Keeffe's will to create did not diminish with her eyesight. In 1977, at age ninety, she observed, "I can see what I want to paint. The thing that makes you want to create is still there." Late in life, and almost blind, she enlisted the help of several assistants to enable her to continue creating art. In these works, she drew on favorite motifs from memory and her vivid imagination. Georgia O'Keeffe died in Santa Fe on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98.

As an artist of national standing, Georgia O'Keeffe has been well known in America for many decades. More recently, her art has begun to attract similar attention and accolades abroad. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's collections include nearly 150 paintings and hundreds of works on paper (pencil and charcoal drawings, as well as pastels and watercolors). The collections also include personal property, from rocks and bones to dresses and paintbrushes, and a significant archive of documents and photographs relating to the artist's life and times.

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About Georgia O'Keeffe - The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

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"I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it." Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the most significant artists of the 20 th century, renowned for her contribution to modern art.

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Throughout my research of O'Keeffe's work and life her relationship to and deep love for the New Mexico landscapes and her fulfilled wish to have her remains scattered there have stood out hugely to me, alongside the frequent skull motif in her work and her evident appreciation for their intricacy and beauty. I find her love for the landscapes and culture of New Mexico, a place she was not native to nor even born in, extraordinarily relatable as I myself feel a similar deep love for the rural landscapes of Southern Spain where I have frequently visited family throughout my life. I want to show her appreciation for the NM landscape in my work during this project and I would also like to focus on the scattering of her ashes.

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New Mexico hills, painted red with a dawn or dusk sky behind.

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NM landscape, hills tinged purple with a blue, slightly-clouded sky beyond.

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Photograph taken by O'Keeffe herself of the Chama River in NM, which flows close to Abiquiu and O'Keefe's homes.

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Tate Etc (2019). My Faraway Nearby Georgia O’Keeffe in her own words. [online] tate.org.uk. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-37-summer-2016/my-faraway-nearby [Accessed 4 Oct. 2024].‌

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"When I got to New Mexico, that was mine. As soon as I saw it, that was my country. I’d never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It’s something that’s in the air, it’s just different. The sky is different, the stars are different, the wind is different."

"I feel at home here – I feel quiet – my skin feels close to the earth when I walk out into the red hills…"

"I seemed to be hunting for something of myself out there, something in myself that will give me a symbol for all this, a symbol for the sense of life I get out here."

"Such a beautiful, untouched lonely-feeling place – part of what I call the Far Away."

"The bones seem to cut sharply to the centre of something that is keenly alive on the desert even though it is vast and empty and untouchable – and knows no kindness with all its beauty."

These words illustrate O'Keeffe's love for and relationship with the NM landscape. It appears to have been both a feeling of home and peace, and of deep inspiration.

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Georgia O'Keeffe walking at the White Place, New Mexico, 1957, photographed by Todd Webb
© Estate of Todd Webb, Portland, Maine, USA

'It takes a kind of nerve... and a lot of hard, hard work.' So said Georgia O'Keeffe at the age of 90 when asked for an explanation of her success. From an early age O'Keeffe had decided that she wasn't going to spend her life, as she put it, 'doing what had already been done'. And it worked. She has become one of the best-loved American artists of the 20th century. From her radical debut in 1916 to her late landscapes inspired by her international travels, she produced works for more than 70 years that oscillated between figuration and abstraction.

Born the second of seven children, Georgia Totto O'Keeffe grew up on a farm near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York. Her style and thinking shifted dramatically in 1912 when she studied the revolutionary ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow, whose focus on design and composition opened up new avenues for her art. This led to a series of abstract charcoal drawings in 1915 that represented a major break with tradition and made O'Keeffe one of the very first American artists to explore abstraction, even if her work was rooted in observed landscape. These drawings were shown to art dealer, photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, who was the first to exhibit her work in 1916. (He later became her husband.)

Tony Vaccaro, Georgia O'Keeffe, Taos Pueblo, New Mexico 1960, gelatin silver print on paper, 16.7 x 23.5 cm
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; photo courtesy Michael A. Vaccaro Studios

In the summer of 1929 O'Keeffe made the first of many trips to northern New Mexico. The tough, dry landscape and its particular regional style of adobe architecture and indigenous art inspired another new direction. Bones, empty landscapes, wooden crosses, the sky, her studio door - all became her subject matter to which she would repeatedly return.

Over the next 20 years she spent part of most years living and working in New Mexico (first at Ghost Ranch and then Abiquiu), making it her permanent home in 1949, three years after Stieglitz's death. In the 1950s O'Keeffe started to travel across the globe, and would subsequently make paintings that evoked some of the many places she visited, including parts of the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. During her later years she would continue introducing new subjects, most notably her series of cloud paintings. A degenerative eye condition slowed down her activity, and she completed her last oil painting without the help of a studio assistant in 1972. She died in Santa Fe on 6 March 1986, aged 98.

O'Keeffe became an important figure for female artists, particularly during the 1970s, and her influence continues today.

Georgia O'Keeffe in her own words

I decided I was going to begin to make drawings. I thought, well, I have a few things in my head that I never thought of putting down, that nobody else taught me, and I was going to begin with charcoal, and I wasn't going to use any colour until I couldn't do what I wanted to do with the charcoal or black paint. 1

I was busy in the daytime and I made most of these drawings at night. I sat on the floor and worked against the closet door. Eyes can see shapes. It's as if my mind creates shapes that I don't know about. I get this shape in my head and sometimes I know what it comes from and sometimes I don't. And I think with myself that there are a few shapes that I have repeated a number of times during my life and I haven't known I was repeating them until after I had done it. 1

Georgia O'Keeffe, Sunrise, 1916, watercolour on paper, 22.5 x 30.2 cm
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016, courtesy Barney Ebsworth collection

The Texas country that I know is the plains. It was land like the ocean all the way around. Hardly anybody liked it, but I loved it. The wind blew too hard, the dust flew, and we had heavy dust storms. I've come in many times when I'd be the colour of the road. At night you could drive away from the town, right out into space. You didn't have to drive on the road, and when the sunset was gone, you turned around and went back, lighted by the light of the town. 1

Georgia O'Keeffe, Red and Orange Streak 1919, oil on canvas, 68.6 x 58.4 cm
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016, courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe for the Alfred Stieglitz Collection

All the earth colours of the painter's palette are out there in the many miles of bad lands. The light Naples yellow through the ochres - orange and red and purple earth - even the soft earth greens. 2

When I got to New Mexico, that was mine. As soon as I saw it, that was my country. I'd never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It's something that's in the air, it's just different. The sky is different, the stars are different, the wind is different. 1

I feel at home here - I feel quiet - my skin feels close to the earth when I walk out into the red hills... 3

I seemed to be hunting for something of myself out there, something in myself that will give me a symbol for all this, a symbol for the sense of life I get out here. 4

I used to get right up in the morning and start out and stay out all day. I'd start off around seven and not get back till around five. It was terribly hot and in the afternoon about four o'clock, the bees would try to get into the car, so you'd have to close the windows. It was hot. The Model A was wonderful. You could take the back seat out. I could sit on the driver's seat when I turned it around to work on the back seat. And the windows were large enough so it was very good. I could use a great big canvas... 1

Photograph of the Chama River, New Mexico, taken by Georgia O'Keeffe
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016

The Black Place is about one hundred and fifty miles from Ghost Ranch and as you come to it over a hill, it looks like a mile of elephants - grey hills all about the same size with almost white sand at their feet. When you get into the hills you find that all the surfaces are evenly crackled so walking and climbing are easy...
I don't remember what I painted on my first trip over there. I have gone so many times. I always went prepared to camp. There was a fine little spot quite far off the road with thick old cedar trees with handsome trunks - not very tall but making good spots of shade...
Such a beautiful, untouched lonely-feeling place - part of what I call the Far Away. 5

The first year I was out here I began picking up bones because there were no flowers. I wanted to take something home, something to work on... When it was time to go home I felt as if I hadn't even started on the country and I wondered what I could take home that I could continue what I felt about the country and I couldn't think of anything to take home but a barrel of bones. So when I got home with my barrel of bones to Lake George I stayed up there quite a while that fall and painted them. That's where I painted my first skulls, from this barrel of bones. 1

The bones seem to cut sharply to the centre of something that is keenly alive on the desert even though it is vast and empty and untouchable - and knows no kindness with all its beauty. 6

I was the sort of child that ate around the raisin on the cookie and ate around the hole in the doughnut saving either the raisin or the hole for the last and best. So probably - not having changed much - when I started painting the pelvis bones I was most interested in the holes in the bones - what I saw through them - particularly the blue from holding them up in the sun against the sky as one is apt to do when one seems to have more sky than earth in one's world... They were most wonderful against the Blue - that Blue that will always be there as it is now after all man's destruction is finished. 5

Photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe's Abiquiu house, New Mexico
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/DACS 2016, gift of the Barnett Foundation

When I first saw the Abiquiu house it was a ruin with an adobe wall around the garden broken in a couple of places by falling trees. As I climbed and walked about in the ruin I found a patio with a very pretty well house and bucket to draw up water. It was a good- sized patio with a long wall with a door on one side. That wall with a door in it was something I had to have. It took me ten years to get - three more years to fix the house so I could live in it - and after that the wall with a door was painted many times. 5

Those little squares in the door paintings are tiles in front of the door; they're really there, so you see the painting is not abstract. It's quite realistic. I'm always trying to paint that door - I never quite get it... It's a curse - the way I feel I must continually go on with that door. Once I had the idea of making the door larger and the picture smaller, but then the wall, the whole surface of that wonderful wall, would have been lost. 7

I would rather come here than any place I know. It is a way of life for me to live very comfortably at the tail end of the earth so far away that hardly anyone will ever come to see me and I like it. 8

The unexplainable thing in nature that makes me feel the world is big far beyond my understanding - to understand maybe by trying to put it into form. To find the feeling of infinity on the horizon line or just over the next hill. 5

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my faraway nearby: georgia o'keeffe in her own words

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My Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe in her own words - Tate Etc | Tate

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'It takes a kind of nerve... and a lot of hard, hard work.' So said Georgia O'Keeffe at the age of 90 when asked for an explanation of her success. From an early age O'Keeffe had decided that she wasn't going to spend her life, as she put it, 'doing what had already been done'.

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-o keffe docs

-o keffe autobio

-other books

-writings from NM????

-podcasts/

-NM sketches

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Turner, J. (2015). South Downs Way. [Monoprint] Available at: https://julie-turner.co.uk/product/south-downs-way/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2024].

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A monoprint by Printmaker Julie Turner. Loose marks and gestural details are of note to me.

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Turner, J. (2020). After the storm. [Monoprint] Available at: https://julie-turner.co.uk/product/after-the-storm-original-monoprint/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2024].

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A second landscape monoprint from artist Julie Turner. The composition of the landscape is especially of note to me here, in particular the framing of the flowers in the foreground and the leading of the eye across the hills on the far shore in the midground.

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Monoprint by artist Margo Sarkisova. The bold lines and the lienwork used for shading the darkest areas, repeated lines built up over each other, are of particular inspiration and interest to me.

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Sarkisova, M. (2021). SOLDIER. [Collagraph] Available at: https://youngartistsinconversation.co.uk/Margo-Sarkisova [Accessed 7 Oct. 2024].

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This is a collagraph print but is still relevant to my monoprint centric research. This piece has bold contrast and solid, simplified shapes that communicate to the viewer easily.

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Martens, K. (2015). Untitled. [Monoprint ] Available at: https://carpenter.center/exhibitions/karel-martens-monoprints [Accessed 7 Oct. 2024].

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Monoprint with letterpress inclusion from Dutch artist Karel Martens. Cohesive colours, symmetrical.

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Martens, K. (2010). Untitled. [Monoprint] Available at: https://wilfriedlentz.com/work/untitled-monoprints-1990-2019/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2024].

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Further monoprint on found card by Karel Martens. Symmetrical, washed-out colours.

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The texture achieved in this monoprint is incredibly vivid and reminiscent of smoke. In addition, the gradient of dark-to-light is very good.

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Degas, E. (1877). Heads of a Man and a Woman. [Monoprint] Available at: https://fineartmultiple.com/blog/what-is-a-monotype/ [Accessed 7 Oct. 2024].

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Edgar Degas - Heads of a Man and a Woman

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Edgar Degas - Heads of a Man and a Woman

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Second Degas monoprint showing two individuals. I really like the smudging of the facial features, and the darkness of the woman's hat.

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Welsh "Book of Hours", a religious book intended to guide prayers, showing illustrated letters as well as Celtic-style knotwork in borders.

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8th Century insular Celtic style illustrated typeface, showing knotwork within the letters. Though named the "Hereford Gospels" it was made in Wales and carries the Celtic style.

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Ricemarch Psalter, Psalm 1. (1064). Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ricemarch_Psalter,_Psalm_1.JPG [Accessed 18 Oct. 2024].

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Welsh insular illustrated manuscript.

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Leabhar Dhèir. (850AD). Available at: https://bookofdeer.co.uk/book-of-deer/the-gospels/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2024].

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Scotland's oldest existing Gàidhlig manuscript shows examples of illustrated illuminated typography.

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Book of Kells. (800AD). Available at: https://typesoftypography.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/illuminated-manuscript-2/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2024].

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Another example of Celtic illuminated typography illustrated in the masterpiece the Book of Kells, likely created by monks on the Hebridean island of Iona.

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Young, J., Mac Uidhir, D., McDonagh, L., Kelly, A., Crowley, B. and Finnegan, N. (n.d.). Irish School of Illumination. [online] heritageireland.ie. Available at: https://heritageireland.ie/articles/irish-school-of-illumination-c-650-1100/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2024].

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Insular Celtic Art - Illuminated Manuscripts 

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Insular Celtic Art - Illuminated Manuscripts 

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While not strictly relevant to my chosen individual for the brief, I have decided to start off my research for this typography brief by looking into Celtic manuscripts. I have decided to do this as they showcase incredible and highly intricate examples of illuminated type for me to draw inspiration and wider context from, and are also of huge personal interest to me as I am half Welsh and grew up in Scotland and thus have a deep appreciation for and interest in Celtic art.

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Irish School of Illumination | Heritage Ireland

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Irish School of Illumination | Heritage Ireland

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The Irish School of Illumination heralded a golden age of artistic achievement in Ireland. The artists that produced the complex handmade manuscripts typical of the

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Cochrane, K. (2023). 50 years of Lavender Country: the radical history of the first queer country album. [online] crackmagazine.net. Available at: https://crackmagazine.net/article/profiles/lavender-country/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2024].

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"A self-proclaimed “screaming Marxist bitch”, Patrick Haggerty very much lived and breathed the revolutionary radicalism that is tangible throughout Lavender Country."

"Born and raised on a dairy farm in Washington, Haggerty recounted his supportive upbringing... “Out of all the things a father in 1959 could have told his gay son, my father tells me to be proud of myself and not sneak,” Haggerty added. A message which he undoubtedly carried through with him into adult life."

"...he was an activist and organiser; over the years he was involved in ACT UP, was a foundational member of his local Gay Liberation Front group and was a discrimination investigator for the Seattle Human Rights Department. He also ran in elections for Seattle City Council and Washington State Representative in 1989 and 1990."

"Lavender Country’s trailblazing debut was self-released [in 1973] with support from the Gay Community Services of Seattle. Just 1,000 copies were made and distributed via mail order and a small handful of gay bookstores who would stock it."

(Cochrane, 2023)

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In 1973, Seattle queer country band Lavender Country released their eponymous debut album.

Widely regarded as the first openly gay album within the country music canon, Lavender Country not only paved the way for an ongoing legacy of queer country artists but also marks a vital part of queer revolutionary history and expression.

Helmed by the late Patrick Haggerty - who passed away last October - Lavender Country formed in 1972. Alongside Haggerty, the original line-up also included keyboardist Michael Carr, guitarist Robert Hammerstrom and singer and fiddle player Eve Morris - the latter of whom penned the album's lesbian love song To A Woman. The first known album dedicated to the lives of queer people in the wake of Stonewall, Lavender Country encompasses queer pride, desire and joy alongside offering potent indictments of the injustices towards gay people, as on the scathing Waltzing Will Trilogy - which draws on Haggerty's own experience of being sent to Western State Hospital for being gay (it wasn't until December 1973 that homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness in America). The album, which balances earnest gravity and sharp-witted irreverence, opens with the lively Come Out Singing, the first line of which sees Haggerty proclaim "wakin' up to say hip hop hooray / I'm glad I'm gay".

Following the initial release of the album, it faded into obscurity after the 1,000 copies made ran out. Now, however, 50 years on, Lavender Country stands as a landmark work and the radicalism of the songwriting continues to be pertinent. Not just in capturing gay existence in 1973 and standing as a documentation of this, but as a protest manifesto of queer identity and a testament to the capacity of community. To celebrate the enduring legacy, here we take a look at some key stories and moments surrounding the world of Lavender Country and their pioneering self-titled debut.

The Haggerty family, image courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors

Patrick Haggerty:
A self-proclaimed "screaming Marxist bitch", Patrick Haggerty very much lived and breathed the revolutionary radicalism that is tangible throughout Lavender Country. In addition to being a country musician, he was an activist and organiser; over the years he was involved in ACT UP, was a foundational member of his local Gay Liberation Front group and was a discrimination investigator for the Seattle Human Rights Department. He also ran in elections for Seattle City Council and Washington State Representative in 1989 and 1990.

Born and raised on a dairy farm in Washington, Haggerty recounted his supportive upbringing in an interview with his daughter Robin Boland for StoryCorps, which was turned into the short animation The Saint of Dry Creek in which he details a time his father gave Haggerty advice about being proud of who he is. "Now I'm gonna tell you something today and you might not know what to think of it now, but you're gonna remember when you're an adult," Haggerty recalled, "Don't sneak. Because if you sneak, like you did today, it means you think you're doing the wrong thing. And if you run around spending your whole life thinking that you're doing the wrong thing, then you'll ruin your immortal soul."

"Out of all the things a father in 1959 could have told his gay son, my father tells me to be proud of myself and not sneak," Haggerty added. A message which he undoubtedly carried through with him into adult life.

The release of Lavender Country:

Lavender Country's trailblazing debut was self-released with support from the Gay Community Services of Seattle. Just 1,000 copies were made and distributed via mail order and a small handful of gay bookstores who would stock it. In an interview with Xtra, Haggerty spoke about how integral the community aspect was to the album's release being possible. "We had to raise the money, buy the studio time, find the musicians and sell the album out of a post office box by ourselves," Haggerty said. "It's not something I could have ever done alone, and I think that's a really important part of the Lavender Country story. I'm a communist, and it was a communal effort."

Just a few years after the release of Lavender Country the group disbanded and, once all the copies of Lavender Country were sold, the album was forgotten to history - until many years later.

The only surviving band photo of Lavender Country, image courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors

Shan Ottey:
Shortly after the release of Lavender Country, feminist-lesbian radio DJ Shan Ottey played the track Cryin' these Cocksucking Tears on her show on Seattle's KRAB FM 107.7 station. As a result, Ottey was taken off air and The Federal Communications Commission revoked her broadcasting licence. A good friend of Haggerty's and advocate for women in radio, when asked why she played the track Ottey replied, "because I thought it should be played on radio". It wasn't long until she was back on air, however. Amongst her extensive work within radio broadcasting, Ottey and her friend Paul Barwick had a show together entitled Make No Mistake About It, It's a Faggot and a Dyke which was one of the earliest American gay and lesbian radio shows in the US.

Patrick and his husband, image courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors

Seattle Pride:
The year after Lavender Country released their album, Seattle held its inaugural Pride celebration. Lavender Country performed at the event which drew some 400 attendees to Seattle Center. From 1999 to 2000, the band briefly re-formed and played Lavender Country in its entirety at Seattle's Broadway Performance Hall, and then at Seattle Pride again in 2000. That same year saw the now-defunct Journal of Country Music publish a feature on gay country musicians, which highlighted Haggerty and the band.

Patrick Haggerty and Bobby Taylor, image courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors

Patrick Haggerty running for WA State Senate in the 80s, image courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors

The re-release and rediscovery of Lavender Country:
It wasn't until the mid-2000s, when Lavender Country was uploaded to a YouTube channel and then was reissued by North Carolina label Paradise of Bachelors in 2014, that the album began to receive the recognition it deserved. This rediscovery of the milestone release and Haggerty's work saw him garner a cult status from a new generation of fans; in 2016 director Dan Taberski released a short film about the queer country pioneer entitled These Cocksucking Tears, Trixie Mattel opened her 2020 album Barbara singing I Can't Shake The Stranger Out Of You with the Lavender Country founder and in 2019 Orville Peck - who refers to Haggerty as "the grandfather of queer country" - invited him to play a surprise opening set at his Seattle show. That same year saw Lavender Country self-release their second album Blackberry Rose, 46 years on from their self-titled debut. The record got an official release via Don Giovanni Records in 2022 and continued to blaze Haggerty's unwaveringly fearless and ardent radical spirit, the one that spurred him to create the enduringly remarkable Lavender Country.

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50 years of 'Lavender Country': the radical history of the first queer country album

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Lavender Country released their eponymous debut album in 1973. With only 1,000 copies made, it faded in relative obscurity until being rediscovered in the mid-2000s. 50 years on, it stands as a landmark within queer history and country music

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Paradise of Bachelors (1970). The only surviving band photo of Lavender Country. [Photograph] Available at: https://crackmag.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Lavender-Country-only-surviving-band-photo-1970s.jpg [Accessed 20 Oct. 2024].

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The only surviving band photo of Lavender Country

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The only surviving band photo of Lavender Country

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Only surviving photo of the original Lavender Country performing.

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Locke, J. (2022). Lavender Country, the self-proclaimed ‘screaming Marxist bitch’ of country music, is back. Xtramagazine.com. [online] Available at: https://xtramagazine.com/culture/music/lavender-country-patrick-haggerty-218026 [Accessed 23 Oct. 2024].

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"Haggerty is no stranger to overcoming challenges. As a first generation liberation activist, he explains how gay and lesbian members of the Seattle Stonewall community worked together to release Lavender Country’s debut. “We had to raise the money, buy the studio time, find the musicians and sell the album out of a post office box by ourselves,” Haggerty says. “It’s not something I could have ever done alone, and I think that’s a really important part of the Lavender Country story. I’m a communist, and it was a communal effort.”"

"...there were forces at work against Lavender Country. One of the most notorious events from this era found Seattle DJ Shan Ottey dismissed from her job at a commercial radio station and stripped of her broadcasting license just for playing the band’s song “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears.”"

"After members of the group stepped away from Lavender Country to focus on personal lives and professional careers, Haggerty says he was effectively blacklisted, unable to find new collaborators. “For decades, even in movement circles, I was the one who made that queer country album, which was considered completely esoteric and outrageous,” he says. “Because I had that label, nobody would play with me. I didn’t have an opportunity to do Lavender Country or any other kind of music because I had a scarlet letter on my back.”"

"“I never stopped writing,” says Haggerty. “For the 50 intervening years, I had scraps of paper sitting under my bed and on top of my dresser with notes about songs I was moved by. They piled up over time, so the album is a collection of scribblings from my life. Not only is it advertised as being 50 years in the making, but that’s the literal truth.”"

"Haggerty remains proudest of the fact that he never compromised his creative intentions. As queer country artists now gain mainstream acceptance and commercial viability, he sees these “morphing attitudes” as a clear example of the Marxist theory of dialectical materialism."

(Locke, 2022)

Also mentions in the interview that he admires Orville Peck and Lil Nas X as queer country artists.

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Patrick Haggerty has thumbed his nose at Nashville's conservative values since day one. As the feisty voice of Lavender Country, his band's astonishing 1973 debut LP is widely acknowledged as the first country music album foregrounding the challenges and intimate lived experiences of an openly gay man.

Raised on a dairy farm in the Pacific Northwest where Hank Williams songs were used to soothe cows, Haggerty has shared the story of his kindhearted father who supported him for who he was, encouraging him to try out as a cheerleader with glitter on his face. Joining the cause of liberation in the immediate aftermath of Stonewall, Haggerty would go on to become a socialist political candidate, working side by side with the Nation of Islam on a Black/gay unity platform. Listening to Lavender Country's 50-year-old self-titled album, it is striking just how trenchant, tender and true these songs sound today.

"In the years before I made the album, I was conflicted," Haggerty says during a Zoom call from his home in Bremerton, Washington. "I could stay in the closet, move to Nashville and try to do something in country music. Or, I could be a screaming Marxist bitch and come out!

"It was unthinkable to do both," he continues. "I had to make a choice, so I did. There was some regret in that choice, because I love country music and I'm kind of a hambone onstage. I might have been able to make something happen if I had snuck back into the closet. It just wasn't in the cards. It wasn't me."

At age 78, Haggerty is now returning to the path less travelled with a follow-up album that eclipses the typical notions of "long awaited." Blackberry Rose and Other Songs and Sorrows was initially released independently in 2019, and is currently receiving a wide-scale reissue this week from Don Giovanni Records, the New Jersey label known for championing radical Black artists as well as international punk acts.

This edition of Blackberry Rose was announced with a full-band re-imagining of the classic Lavender Country tune, "I Can't Shake the Stranger Out of You." The song was recently given another makeover when it was covered by RuPaul's Drag Race champion Trixie Mattel in collaboration with Haggerty. During an interview with NPR,Mattel described her inspirations behind releasing "an homage to those who paved the way," and the lessons she learned by singing with one of them.

"I'm like, 'I'm worried about selling my record. It's my third record and I hope people like it! I hope they buy it!'" said Mattel. "And he [Haggerty] reality checked me so hard. He was like, 'Really? Cause I had friends be murdered by police for being gay and no one said anything.' It was a very enriching experience, because Patrick reminded me that there's more of a mission to this than getting likes and making money."

Talking with Haggerty, he immediately makes it clear that he's content with the hand life has dealt him, even if there have been setbacks in his path. "We're fine, we're old, we're COVID-19-free, so we're happy," he says, while adjusting his one working hearing aid. "The goddesses are laughing. At first they said, 'We're going to give you the musical opportunity of a lifetime.' Then two days later they decided to take my hearing."

Haggerty is no stranger to overcoming challenges. As a first generation liberation activist, he explains how gay and lesbian members of the Seattle Stonewall community worked together to release Lavender Country's debut. "We had to raise the money, buy the studio time, find the musicians and sell the album out of a post office box by ourselves," Haggerty says. "It's not something I could have ever done alone, and I think that's a really important part of the Lavender Country story. I'm a communist, and it was a communal effort."

"Nobody would play with me. I didn't have an opportunity to do Lavender Country or any other kind of music because I had a scarlet letter on my back."

Despite their success at gaining a grassroots following, selling all 1,000 copies of the original album during a series of early 1970s tours up and down the West Coast, there were forces at work against Lavender Country. One of the most notorious events from this era found Seattle DJ Shan Ottey dismissed from her job at a commercial radio station and stripped of her broadcasting license just for playing the band's song "Cryin' These Cocksucking Tears."

After members of the group stepped away from Lavender Country to focus on personal lives and professional careers, Haggerty says he was effectively blacklisted, unable to find new collaborators. "For decades, even in movement circles, I was the one who made that queer country album, which was considered completely esoteric and outrageous," he says. "Because I had that label, nobody would play with me. I didn't have an opportunity to do Lavender Country or any other kind of music because I had a scarlet letter on my back."

"To do a campaign as a gay socialist with men from the Nation of Islam was outrageous!"

As alternative forms of action during the 1980s, Haggerty co-founded the Seattle chapter of AIDS-advocacy organization ACT UP, and ran two campaigns for political office with the New Alliance Party. The NAP is best known today for boosting psychologist Lenora Fulani onto the ballot in all 50 states during her 1988 presidential run, making her both the first African-American and woman to do so. This forged Haggerty's connection with the Nation of Islam, led locally by a progressive Seattle minister who Haggerty describes as being "quite interested in making connections to the gay movement.

"To do a campaign as a gay socialist with men from the Nation of Islam was outrageous!" Haggerty laughs. "I didn't particularly set out to be outrageous, but I ended up there, and that term has followed me around for my whole life. The campaign worked out pretty well, and I really liked those guys, so we managed to cut a swath. I think we got between 16 and 18 percent of the vote. That was a good showing and it was worth doing."

Another song on Lavender Country's new album is dedicated to his comrade Clara Fraser, the feminist political organizer who co-founded the Freedom Socialist Party. Haggerty sings from the point of view of a man who fired her, reading quotes verbatim from a case file that he gained access to while working in her office's human rights department. "If you want to talk about authenticity, this song really is," he says. "Every quotation and action that I sing about in that song was perpetrated by the yahoo who fired her."

Elsewhere on Blackberry Rose, Haggerty breathes new life into "Gay Bar Blues," a staple of the band's performances in the 1970s that was initially earmarked for their debut. "Gay bars back then were crummy holes in the wall that you had to sneak into," he says. "It was very well received because the people who were hearing it in 1973 were coming out of that darkness." The band's Tammy Wynette parody, "Stand On Your Man," similarly dates back 20 years, but it's been updated for the modern age with a reference to the "lapsed judgment" of Trump-supporting Republicans.

"I never stopped writing," says Haggerty. "For the 50 intervening years, I had scraps of paper sitting under my bed and on top of my dresser with notes about songs I was moved by. They piled up over time, so the album is a collection of scribblings from my life. Not only is it advertised as being 50 years in the making, but that's the literal truth."

Looking back at his life and career decisions, Haggerty remains proudest of the fact that he never compromised his creative intentions. As queer country artists now gain mainstream acceptance and commercial viability, he sees these "morphing attitudes" as a clear example of the Marxist theory of dialectical materialism. "I was persona non grata for 40 years, and it turned into its opposite, big time," says Haggerty. "After all these years, I'm now being rushed by essentially the same forces that excluded me in the first place."

Beyond his collaboration with Trixie Mattel, Haggerty has shared stages and interviews with Orville Peck. They've made different choices, but Haggerty still takes his hat off to the masked cowboy crooner. "Orville found a way to go big time by being not so pithy in terms of his politics," he says. "He's really good at what he does, and has the right team behind him. When you find out what's going on behind the mask, he's much more inclined to agree with me than with the Democratic Party."

The modern-day queer country artist who Haggerty truly holds in high regard is the devil-seducing superstar Lil Nas X: "If you want to talk about outlandish, he does that really well. Your first take on him is to laugh at the outlandishness, but just under the surface is a very serious artist, politically and in every other way.

"All kinds of things are possible now," Haggerty concludes, "but if I could do a show with Lil Nas X, I could die and go to hell and be very happy."

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Lavender Country, the self-proclaimed 'screaming Marxist bitch' of country music, is back | Xtra Magazine

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After 50 years, Patrick Haggerty returns with songs of timeless sorrow and outrage

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Tamanova, M. (2022). Patrick Haggerty, the creative force behind Lavender Country. [Photograph] Available at: https://xtramagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Lavender-Country-cr-Marie-Tamanova-min.jpeg [Accessed 23 Oct. 2024].

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Patrick in 2022. Of note to me is the cowboy hat with the rainbow, and the flower patterning on his shirt. The dark colours with lavender highlights are of particular symbolic importance and are also very eye-catching.

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Missvain (2019). Lavender Country live at The Starling in Sonoma, California. [Photograph] Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lavender_Country_-_Sarah_Stierch_-_2019_17.jpg [Accessed 23 Oct. 2024].

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2019 performance from Lavender Country in CA.

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Cover of Lavender Country's second album. I really like the flower iconography and it is significant to me that it is so prevalent throughout the band's work and outfits.

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Cover for first Lavender Country album. Of note to me is the prevalent use of Lavender, and the iconography of the lettering - the wooden-textured text in "country" and the ornate lettering in the word "lavender".

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Album as both a celebration of homosexuality and a condemnation of bigotry - a discussion of the pain and experience of oppression

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Album as both a celebration of homosexuality and a condemnation of bigotry - a discussion of the pain and experience of oppression

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"The songs address life inside the gay-rights struggle, and the specifics hurt. On "Waltzing Will Trilogy", Haggerty rails against the "pack of straight white honky quacks" administering shock treatment to homosexuals—"they call it mental hygiene but I call it psychic rape," he barks. Young men are beaten to death by police and sodomized by prison guards. "Back in the Closet" and "Straight White Patterns" detail the quiet torture of living within a straight white regime. And "I Can't Shake The Stranger Out of You" is a lovelorn take on gay cruising, a pickup song that doubles as a lament."

This album review discusses the pain and raw experience Haggarty puts into his music, and as a gay person myself this resonates deeply with me and is incredibly powerful. The article goes on to discuss Haggarty's lifetime of campaigning for social issues.

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Patrick Haggerty was raised on a dairy farm outside Seattle before the twin shocks of the Stonewall riots and his ejection from the Peace Corps radicalized him. In 1973 he released Lavender Country, widely regarded as the first country record by an openly gay person, in an edition of 1,000. Now that the label Paradise of Bachelors is reissuing the collection, the richness of Haggerty’s achievement can be appreciated again.

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https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2014/03/20/lavender-country/

https://paradiseofbachelors.com/shop/pob-012/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/01/lavender-country-tribute

https://countryqueer.com/lavender-country/the-lavender-country-story/

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Patrick Haggerty discusses his country upbringing, relationship with his father and creating country music’s first openly gay album.

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Gottwald, D. (2018). Typography As Theming in the Ol’ West. [online] themerica.org. Available at: https://www.themerica.org/blog/2018/01/06/typography-as-theming-in-the-ol-west [Accessed 30 Oct. 2024].

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Art Professor Dave Gottwald writes in this article that the stereotypical "western" font originally came from England in the early 1800s. It was originally made using wooden letterpress printing, and underwent a change and revival during the 20th century with the rise in popularity of the western genre.

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Typography As Theming in the Ol’ West. — Themerica

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After leaving Great Falls, it was back on the road through Montana, into Wyoming, and on to South Dakota. How do we know we’re in the Old West? In absence of covered wagons, dusty trails, and cowboys on horseback rounding up cattle...the typography.

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Gottwald, D. (2018). Typography As Theming in the Ol’ West. [online] themerica.org. Available at: https://www.themerica.org/blog/2018/01/06/typography-as-theming-in-the-ol-west [Accessed 30 Oct. 2024].

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From Dave Gottwald article.

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Comradekiev.com. (2024). Fonts & Freedom: Using Typography to Chart the Course of the USSR. [online] Available at: https://comradekiev.com/blog/fonts-typography-and-freedom-ussr?srsltid=AfmBOooGEMxT6pkKiR5LvkXu-4mNT6yzyiMeoVjzmUNBHd9mcSuNO-O1 [Accessed 30 Oct. 2024].

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Since Patrick Haggarty was a self-described marxist and socialist I decided to look at this article describing soviet typography.

It writes that after the revolution ornate art and lettering was shunned, and the state sought out Soviet designers to make optimistic art and type that would reflect the modern industrialised nation. Of particular note to me is the blocky, modular style of the typefaces used.

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Fonts & Freedom: Using Typography to Chart the Course of the USSR

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Typography plays a crucial role in communicating, entertaining and educating. But, it can also be used to chart the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.

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"Linoleum was created in the 1800s and used in the late 1800s as a floor covering. Traditional wood and metal block were expensive and time consuming to create"

Lino started off as a cheap and more accessible alternative to wood and metal block printing, popular with art schools. In the early twentieth century artists Matisse and Picasso started to use lino and as a result its popularity grew.

"The Grosvenor School of Modern Art opened in London in 1925. Claude Flight taught linocut classes there, showing students to produce multi-colour linocut prints by using different blocks for each colour. These British prints were highly influenced by cubism and Futurism. The First Exhibition of British Linocuts was curated by Flight in 1929. In the 1940s, American artist Walter Anderson began producing large-scale linocut prints at his Gautier, Mississippi home, to be used as wallpaper, hung like scrolls. His work was exhibited in 1949 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York."

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The history and process of linocut print: from paupers to Picasso – Great North Art Show

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The Great North Art Show showcases artworks from a variety of different artists and using a variety of different mediums. The 2014 exhibition includes work by Northern etchers, engravers and printmakers. This is part two of a two-part blog series on these techniques.

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Fowler, R. (2023). The History of Lino Printing and its Artists. [online] boardingallrows. Available at: https://www.boardingallrows.com/history-of-lino-printing-and-famous-linocut-artists [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].‌

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Some of the earliest uses of lino printing were for books and periodical covers, and originated in the USA.

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Your most common association of linoleum might be as a type of flooring or perhaps you were introduced to the art form in middle or high school. Nowadays, practitioners buy pieces of linoleum made specifically for art. One of the most common types of art linoleum is called battleship gray linoleum. It's about an 1/8th" thick and has a burlap backing. Linoleum is different than wood in that it's a little softer and doesn't have grain. It's not to be confused with softer, easier to carve rubber blocks

Part of my mission is to explore the rich history of linocut and shed light on some famous lino print artists, including their methods and artwork. I also want to play with and push back against the ideas that linoleum is just for students and amateurs, that it's subordinate to the woodcut, and that it's "easily mastered" (Yeaton 11). These are sentiments sometimes found in the historical literature of the art form.

History of Lino Printing

Linoleum was invented by Frederick Walton (UK) in the mid-1800's, first patenting the material in 1860. At that time, its main use was that of a floor material, and later in the 1800's as actual wallpaper. However, by the 1890's artists had started to use it as an artistic medium.

From my research so far, the transition of linoleum from flooring and wallpaper to printmaking material does not seem to be thoroughly documented. There also seems to be discrepancies within the available literature on the matter. Germany, Austria (through Franz Cizek) and the United States seem to have been amongst the first to turn to linoleum for creating art around the turn of the 20th century.

The Word for Linocut in Different Countries, Languages and Eras

If you're researching linocut or even just scrolling through Instagram these days, you'll notice that the word used for 'linocut' is different depending on the language or country. Lino print, linoleum block print, linolschnitt, linograbado, and linogravure, are just a few examples. Sometimes, particularly early on, the more general term of 'block print' was used to describe a work that could have been a woodcut or linocut.

Further Reading about the First Uses of Linoleum for Printing

This page is an evolving document about the history of lino printing, I have found these sources to be helpful in identifying key dates in the early history of the art form.

The Relief Print: Woodcut, Wood Engraving & Linoleum Cut by Watson and Kent (1945) - mentions that linoleum was used for printing wallpaper in Germany, "as early as 1890."

Colour Block Print Making from Linoleum Blocks by Hesketh Hubbard (1927) - notes that linoleum was used instead of wood in Germany by the end of the 1800s.

Lino-Cuts: a Hand-Book of Linoleum-Cut Colour Printing by Claude Flight (1927) - says that Cizek was the first European ("of any standing") to use lino for printing using European methods.

The Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art edited by Gerald W. R. Ward (2008) - mentions that linoleum was used for printing on wallpaper in Germany in 1890. Then by artists in the early 1900's. Notes the importance of Cizek.

Vienna was amongst the first places where linoleum was used for art. This essay in Schirn Mag gives a nice summary of the relief printmaking movement there around 1900. Though it focuses on the woodcut, it includes Hugo Henneberg's linocut called, Night Scene - Blue Pond from 1904.

The best history of lino printing I've found so far is a wonderfully detailed account by Andrea Tietze, titled, "The linocut in history and in the art of the modern age." It's found in Linoleum: History, Design, Architecture, 1882-2000 by Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz (2000).

Linocut Art from 1895-1920

Early artists who dabbled in lino printing in its infancy included both painters and woodblock printmakers who were experimenting with a different material for relief printmaking. Some of the earliest lino prints I've found were used for books and periodical covers.

The first linocuts that I've been able to find through trustworthy sources (like major museum collections around the world) have been from the United States. I'd like to note that this doesn't necessarily mean that the United States was the first adopt linoleum. I've found two linocuts from 1895 from US artists (Will H. Bradley and San Francisco's Bruce Porter).

Examples of linocuts made in the first 10-25 years of the art include:

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Linocut Artists and History - Linocut Artist | Boarding All Rows

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The history of lino printing, early linoleum block prints, and an introduction to some famous linocut artists such as Pablo Picasso, Edward Bawden, Sybil Andrews and Leopoldo Mendez.

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Bradley, W. (1895). The Inland Printer, Christmas 1895. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/5123 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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One of the first known linocut artworks, dating from the late 1800s. The strong shapes and abstraction of the figures is of strong interest to me - even in the infancy of the medium simplification and stylisation was used.

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Coenraad Brouwer, W. (1898). print; bookplate. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1913-0717-713 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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A dutch linocut artwork dating from 1898, again a book cover. The design on this linocut seems to be a lot more intricate despite only being a few years younger than The Inland Printer.

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This is a linocut print from 1910, later than the other two examples on the padlet. Interestingly this is not a book cover and instead appears to be a standalone illustration. The use of texture appears a lot more variable and experimental than in the previous two examples.

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Linocut print illustration from 1914, the latest yet. Of particular interest to me is the highly stylised and abstracted style of the piece. I believe it shows a further evolution of the use of linocut.

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Flight, C. (1921). print. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1924-0209-62 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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1921 linocut print by British artist Claude Flight.

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Flight, C. (1922). Speed. [Linocut] Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O76702/speed-linocut-flight-claude/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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1922 colour linoprint by Claude Flight, featuring a London street setting.

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Parkin, M. (1987). Claude Flight and the Linocut. The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, [online] 6, pp.26–33. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1503911.‌ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024]

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"... he had realized the importance of the linocut. He was introduced to the technique by the work of the Austrian professor Franz Cisek who pioneered it as a medium for art education from 1918. Flight was immediately attracted by its simple direct mode of expression and by the possibility of printing designs in more than one color. His early works show his experimentation with the technique and realization of its possibilities" (Parkin, 1987).

Also discussed is his teaching of artist Lill Tschundi and his passion for the linocut medium in his later career.

"It was through Claude Flight's advocacy of the linocut that it came to be accepted for its educational potentialities, and its simplicity and boldness of design came to have a profound influence on the artistic tastes of later generations... linoleum block color printing. He, more than anyone else, is responsible for its general recognition as a printing medium. " (Parkin, 1987).

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Tschudi, L. (1932). Fixing the Wires. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1949-0411-4600 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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1932 linocut print by Swiss printmaker Lill Tschundi. It was printed on oriental issue paper and the angular, blocky style of the print really stands out to me. To me it is reminiscent of Soviet brutalist architecture, which may have even been an influence on the artwork given the time period and that the artist was European.

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Seltzer Rice, W. (1940). Back of Brice’s Barn. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/RRT796/William-Seltzer-Rice/Back-of-Brices-Barn [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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Linocut print from 1940 by American artist and printmaker William Seltzer Rice. This one colour print is notably complex and the texture of the wood especially stands out to me.

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Picasso, P. (1958). Portrait of a Woman after Cranach the Younger. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-portrait-of-a-woman-after-cranach-the-younger-p11368 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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Portrait of a Woman after Cranach the Younger

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Portrait of a Woman after Cranach the Younger

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This is a 1958 linocut by Pablo Picasso, one of the artists thought to have popularised the medium of linocut printing in the 20th century. It is notably complex, showing multiple different colours and textures.

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“Linoleum may be a substitute for wood, but it is a medium in itself worthy of the consideration of the best block printers.”

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“Linoleum may be a substitute for wood, but it is a medium in itself worthy of the consideration of the best block printers.”

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Perry, R. W 1883-. (1938). Block printing craft. Peoria, Ill.: The Manual arts press. (p. 38).

Discussing the rise of linocut printing as not just a training medium from which to move onto wood or metal printing, but also a potential-filled medium in and of itself. This quote from a book discussing block printing shows the shift of general artist perception toward linocut as a worthy medium.

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ABOVE IMAGE: Tschundi, L. (1963). The black watch. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1985-0330-8 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024]. // BELOW TEXT: Bookroom Art Press (n.d.). Lill Tschudi. [online] bookroomartpress. Available at: https://www.bookroomartpress.co.uk/product-category/biographies/lill-tschudi/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].

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Tschundi was a Swiss printmaker born in the mountainous East of the country. She made over 355 linocuts, studied at The Grosvenor School with linocut tutor Claude Flight, and often focused on city scenes in her artwork. "One London critic wrote: ‘she seems to seize activity on the wing, and fix it in her linocuts’" (Bookroom Art Press, n.d.).

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Tschundi, L. (1932). The Start of the Race. [Linocut] Available at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_2020-7016-124 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2024].‌

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1932 lino print from Lill Tschundi showing athletes beginning a race. It was inspired by her life in London and was printed using three blocks and colours: brown, orange, and beige. Significant to me is not only the sense of movement in the piece but also the blocky and angular stylistic forms of the humans depicted.

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Stephen Coppel, 'Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School', Aldershot, England: Scolar Press, 1995 (catalogue raisonné)
Andrea Tietze and Herbert Eichhorn, 'Lill Tschudi: Linolschnitte 1930-1997', exh. cat., Bietigheim-Bissingen, 1997
'Lilll Tschudi: Die Faszination des Modernen Linolschnitts/ The Excitement of the Modern Linocut 1930-1950', with essays by Alexandra Barcal, Jennifer Farrell, Marcel Just and Anna Lehninger, exh. cat., ETH, Zurich, 2021

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"Moss" (Natasha Russell) interlocking tile linocut print

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"Moss" (Natasha Russell) interlocking tile linocut print

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Interlocking linocut print using multiple tiles. Especially useful/relevant to my project as this interlocking format would work well for snake imagery. Natasha Russell is a Scottish printmaker and artist who frequently works with linocut printing.

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"Map" (Natasha Russell) tile linocut print

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"Map" (Natasha Russell) tile linocut print

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Tiles based on textures from OS maps showing areas of Scotland. The tiling itself is really interesting to me but I am also incredibly interested and inspired by the textures and contrast, and it's something I want to try to recreate in my own snake based work.

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"Tropics" (Natasha Russell) tile/stamp linocut print

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"Tropics" (Natasha Russell) tile/stamp linocut print

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Tile/stamp linocut print from Russell, inspired by a trip to Singapore. I like this especially for its uneven stamps - in the previous works I have showcased from her the tiles have all been uniform however these are not, and lends to an visually striking layout that guides the eye around the image. It was also completed at 100cmx100cm scale, which is very large and which encourages me to scale up my own work.

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"Murmur" (Natasha Russell) linocut print on wall

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"Murmur" (Natasha Russell) linocut print on wall

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Linocut print on a wall, by Natasha Russell. While I do not think I can print on any walls for this project, I do intend to challenge HOW exactly I print, and I am now considering taping fabric or paper to a wall and printing upright.

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Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) (2007). 2. [Photo] Available at: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov07macro/snake/images/2.jpg [Accessed 22 Nov. 2024].

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Head detail of a royal python. While I have my own, and she is the background of this Padlet board, she is not very co-operative for pictures and will not hold still to get a good picture of her scale patterns!

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Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) (2007). 6. [Photo] Available at: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov07macro/snake/images/6.doc [Accessed 22 Nov. 2024].

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Detail of royal python head shape and heat pits (sensory organs used to perceive heat signatures from their environment, frequently used to locate prey items)

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Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) (2007). 1. [Photo] Available at: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov07macro/snake/images/1.jpg [Accessed 22 Nov. 2024].

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Detail of royal python belly scales, known as "belly scutes". These scales are modified in snakes to be long and thin in order to help them move.

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Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) (2007). 3. [Photo] Available at: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov07macro/snake/images/3.jpg [Accessed 22 Nov. 2024].

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Detail of the vent (cloaca) and spurs (claws that are vestigial legs, not present in all species of snake but are present in royal pythons) of a royal python. This image shows the transition of single belly scutes to double belly scutes, after the vent.

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Herringe, K. (2020). Lino Printing on Fabric Test. [Linocut on Fabric] Available at: https://kimherringe.com.au/journal/21-days-in-my-art-world/attachment/lino-fabric-print-test/ [Accessed 25 Nov. 2024].

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Lino on fabric, repeating patterns printed by Australian printmaker and artist Kim Herringe. Inspirational for my project as I am interested in pushing lino and printing on surfaces other than paper.

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Lino on fabric, again using repeated patterns, by English artist Lizzie Mabley.

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Lino print by printmaker Becca Leigh showing a royal python. Used as inspiration and insight as to how modern western artists depict royal pythons. I especially like the "chatter" on this print, around the outside of the snake.

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This is a formline drawing of a snake, intended for a tattoo. It is drawn by a Gitxsan First Nations artist in the traditional art style of the tribes of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. I have used this drawing for research to help broaden my knowledge of how snakes are depicted by artists across cultures, not just my own.

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Japanese woodcut print by artist Bairei. This is an older piece, from the 20th century, and again helps me to gain knowledge about how snakes are depicted across cultures and especially in printmaking. While not lino print, woodcut printing is similar in technique and as mentioned earlier in my research many artists used lino to train and practice before moving onto wooden blocks.

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Woodcut print of a cockatrice dating to the 1600s. Though a mythical creature, it is highly serpentine and in my opinion a good example of the ways in which snakes were depicted in 1600s England. It is also a good example of older printmaking, as it is an example of carved block printing.

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A painting from a temple of pythons in Ouida, Benin. Royal pythons are a sacred animal in regions of West Africa, including Benin, Ghana, and Togo, and I feel it is important to look at some of the art that comes from the peoples who live alongside royal pythons in their native range.

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Korede, B. (2019). python. [Sculpture] Available at: https://theafricanhobo.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/python.jpeg [Accessed 7 Dec. 2024].

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Here is a sculpture from the same temple in Ouida, Benin, It shows a woman and a royal python. "Dagbe" is a word used to refer to the pythons within their religious context.

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Example of a snake from medieval Celtic art, showing Celtic knotwork within the body of the serpent.

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Bourke, C. (2018). If the Wind Won’t Serve Take to The Oars. [Linocut] Available at: https://img.etsystatic.com/il/a3243b/1521150695/il_570xN.1521150695_a1sv.jpg?version=0http:// [Accessed 20 Dec. 2024].

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Here are pages from a linoprinted zine by artist and printmaker Chris Bourke. This widens the possibilities for presenting my linocut artwork - the booklet/zine form works very well for linocut prints.

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Striking print work from Scott Minzy, an American printmaker. Here the tonal lines really stand out to me, and I find it incredibly impressive that such a range of textures, tones, and contrast has been achieved with just black ink and a well-planned lino carve.

In the article Minzy discusses the things that drew him to lino print in particular and discusses that "the physicality of the process and that really resonated with me. The connection to the past, in that relief printmaking is an ancient art form. I also love that it’s a misunderstood and underrated art-form. In college all the professors asked me when I was going to make the transition to woodcuts, as if linoleum wasn’t a legitimate material in itself. At my senior show other art majors were asking if they were pen and ink drawings. And last of all I fell in love with printmaking because it was fast, cheap and easy. Linoleum is the perfect synthesis of this ethos." (Minzy, 2020)

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Özlem Özcan, B. and Ozer, A. (2016). Using traditional illustration techniques in poster design. Global Journal on Humanites & Social Sciences, [online] 3. doi:https://doi.org/10.18844/gjhss.v0i0.269.

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Article examining traditional poster layouts. As the final outcome for this project will be a poster, I find this article incredibly informative

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How a Father’s Compassion Led to ‘Lavender Country’

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Early gay rights activist and country music pioneer Patrick Haggerty gives credit to his loving father, who taught him to be proud of his identity in a place and time when that was an unusual act.

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LGSM Concert poster. LGSM were an organisation of Gay Men and Lesbians who did fundraising for striking miners in South Wales. As they were a radical gay political group I feel that their design is very relevant here.

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The Art of Poster Design: Goals, Types and Directions.

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The article presents the classification of posters as a popular type of graphic design: check the definitions, art directions and examples of various posters.

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This web page discusses the power of comics and also some benefits of reading them. They can be used to tell mature stories, as Marshall writes "I could list dozens of examples of complex stories and themes found in comic books, some meant for students and some meant for adults" (Marshall, 2018) and can also be used to help students see better representation of themselves "the mantle of Spiderman was assumed by a boy who was half black and half Puerto Rican. My students were so excited to see a superhero that looked like them" (Marshall, 2018)

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Literacy Daily is a space to connect educators, students, and leaders with the latest news, ideas, tools, strategies, and research in literacy instruction.

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Dorey, E. (2024). Art, Politics and Punk: An Interview with Elizabeth Fiend, aka Luna Ticks. [online] tcj.com. Available at: https://www.tcj.com/art-politics-and-punk-an-interview-with-elizabeth-fiend-aka-luna-ticks/.

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"Comics are great because they are tangible objects. In contrast, with painting, one person may own the piece and usually exhibit it briefly rather than give it to others to touch and interact with." (Dorey, 2024)

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Art, Politics and Punk: An Interview with Elizabeth Fiend, aka Luna Ticks - The Comics Journal

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Edward Dorey interviews Elizabeth Fiend, aka Luna Ticks: musician, television host, zine-maker, and contributor to underground comics like Weirdo and Tits & Clits in the heat of the punk era.

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"Linocut quickly gained popularity among artists and designers. This was facilitated

by two factors – the availability and plastic capabilities of linoleum. Making a printing

plate from linoleum turned out to be much cheaper than from metal, stone or wood. In

addition, large engravings can be cut on linoleum. It is easy to handle because it is easy to cut." (Yusupov, 2022)

"Conclusion. Modern colored linoleum engraving is characterized by the desire to

collect a single form on the basis of small various carved elements, rhythm, polychromy, a departure from a single thematic composition to the area of decor. In general, we can say that the art of linocut remains a popular type of easel graphics." (Yusupov, 2022)

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As I am focusing on floral imagery for this brief I draw inspiration from the ways in which the natural forms of the plants have been used by Prinku to create a letterform.