Meaning of Xylography (What it is, Concept and Definition)

What is Xylography:

Woodcut comes from the Greek ξυλον (xylon), what does it mean woodand γραφη (graphed), what does it mean inscription. Therefore, woodcut means inscription or wood engraving.

It is an ancient printing technique of Chinese origin from the 5th century AD, where the artisan uses the following procedure:

Use a gouge or burin for carving a design on the wood, leaving in relief the part that is intended to make the inscription. Then, the ink is used to paint the design in relief, on a matrix (also called Taco) for each page.In the final phase, a type of press is used to press and display the image on paper or other support.

An important detail is that the design is a mirror image of what is carved, that is, the final image comes out the opposite of what was carved, which requires more work for the craftsman.

The most suitable woods to make woodcuts are boxwood, cherry or pear. Other less hard woods, such as maple and oak, are not suitable for woodcut.

There are two types of woodcut: the ‘string’ woodcut and the ‘head’ woodcut, which are distinguished by the way the tree trunk is cut. In ‘string’ woodcut (also known as grain wood or downed wood) the tree is cut in the direction of growth, longitudinal, that is, parallel to the fibers of the trunk. This method is prone to the appearance of knots and irregular fibers with the consequent problem for printing. In ‘head wood’ xylography (or standing wood) the tree is cut transversely to the trunk, that is, perpendicular to the fibers.

Woodcut, despite its classification as a primitive technique, was adopting improvements that helped maintain its validity. Hans Burgkmair is considered the inventor of tonal or multi-color woodcut, a rather laborious method that attempted to recreate hand-colored sheets.

Practically the only use that continues to be given to woodcut is artistic due to its notorious graphic character (the thick line). The use of woodcut for artistic engravings reached its peak in Europe in the 15th century, and gradually lost its validity as other metal engraving techniques took over. Woodcut has also been recorded on the tile pieces, reproducing the smallest drawings.

woodcut book

The woodcut book is one whose pages are printed with fixed plates. The most outstanding examples of European woodcut books date from the 15th century. Woodcut books tended to be more pictorial than textual. They were produced in less time than traditional hand-painted books, but the production process was still laborious and was only satisfactory for short, highly sought-after books.