IFPDA’s Print Month in October 2021 featured an online program called, Prints in Relief; Print Study Day Presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The IFPDA is the International Fine Print Dealers Association. One of the three speakers was Rachel Mustalish, Conservator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who gave a talk titled, Linocuts: Making and Meaning.

I recently went back and watched it on YouTube and thought it was a compelling introduction to linocut printmaking, including its early days. The lino printing portion of the video starts at about the 58:33 mark.

Some of the subjects she touches on in the talk are:

• The invention of linoleum.

• The basics of making a linocut print.

• The Lark, May (1895) by Bruce Porter and other early linocut work.

• The aesthetic characteristics of a linocut and comparisons to woodcut.

• Linocut examples from Matisse, Claude Flight, Sybil Andrews, Lill Tschudi, Cyril Power and Picasso.

• The style and influence of artists associated with the British Grosvenor School.

• Contemporary approaches to linocut from artists such as Chuck Close, Bill Woodrow, Victoria Mamnguqsualuk and Kara Walker.

You might watch it if you’re interested in the history of the medium.

The British Museum in London posted a nice little video about Picasso's linocuts on Facebook this week. It breaks down his reduction linocut technique using one of his most famous lino prints, Still Life under the Lamp. While he is sometimes citied as the originator of the technique, research indicates otherwise. I've written in the past about Picasso and tips on making a reduction print if you're interested.

Art writer Charlotte Mullins takes a look at a set of Picasso linocuts acquired by the British Museum in 2014, with help from Art Fund. The two prints, Still Life under the Lamp and Jacqueline Reading, were both made in 1962, when the artist was 80 years old.