In the beginning is the woodcut. Holzschnitt. 1400 bis heute (Woodcut: 1400 to the Present) is
the first in a series of publications examining the different techniques for making art prints
in all their diversity and centuries of fascination based on the unique collection of the
Berlin Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings). Through around one hundred works of
art on paper-including masterpieces by Albrecht Dürer Edvard Munch and Käthe Kollwitz-the
development of the woodcut is traced from its beginnings to the present day. From Lucas Cranach
and the chiaroscuro woodcuts of the Renaissance to the extravagant color prints of the Rococo
period and the watercolor-inspired prints of the late nineteenth century to the radically
reduced formal language of Expressionism and the rebirth of woodblock printing in the modern
era. The resistant and irregular nature of the material is also appreciated in contemporary
art: from photorealistic works to abstract large formats images are printed as one-offs.
Deliberately running counter to the reproductive character of the medium they lend great
currency to the oldest of printmaking processes.
