Large format woodblock print artist ID?

August 3, 2018 6:08 AM

I visited the Hirshhorn Museum at the Smithsonian in the fall of 1990. There was an exhibit of woodblock prints that were almost photorealistic, made by a woman, and very large, I believe she carved the blocks out of full plywood sheets (4x8). I think I remember a forest scene, but nothing else about the content of the prints. No amount of searching the web in the intervening years has been fruitful, so I turn to you.
posted by outfielder to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Scroll down on the Hirschorn's own page here to the listing of exhibits in 1990, which includes Franz Gertsch: Nine Large-Scale Woodcuts, September 19 to December 16, 1990. See further the artist's own website here.
posted by beagle at 6:15 AM on August 3, 2018

Franz Gertsch, Nine Large -Scale Woodcuts was on view at the Hirshhorn September 19 – December 16, 1990. No images on the Hirshhorn site, but Museum Franz Gertsch has plenty of examples of large-scale, photorealistic woodcut prints. The only hitch — either in my answer, or in your memory — Not a woman.
posted by D.Billy at 6:17 AM on August 3, 2018

Thanks to you both! My memory was wrong, it was Franz Gertsch. Thinking it was a woman all these years definitely messed up my searches, but I really must learn to scour museum websites like you both did for me.
posted by outfielder at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2018

fyi, my friend is in an art collective, they make huge prints from plywood. They use a small steamroller to make prints.
posted by theora55 at 7:12 AM on August 3, 2018