Provincetown Prints

Blanche Lazzell, Anemone II

A few years back I did a post about white-line woodblock prints.  It's a printing process that's

uniquely American; in fact, it was invented in Provincetown so the prints are often referred

to as Provincetown Prints.  Unlike traditional woodblock printing where each color requires a different block, this process uses just one block with a tiny groove cut between each section to divide the colors. This method leaves a thin white line separating the colors, hence the name

white-line print  You can see a few of my own white-line prints in this old post about my artwork.

Blanche Lazzell advertising print

The invention of the process is credited to Bror (B.J.O.) Nordfeldt and it was developed by a

small group of artists who were in Provincetown (unable to travel to Europe) during WWI.

The two prints above are by Blanche Lazzell who, arguably, has become the most famous of

the practitioners of this process.  She taught the printing process to the next generation of

artists and it's still practiced and taught today.

The Provincetown Art Association and Musuem, celebrating its 100th anniversary

this year, is now showing an exhibit of Provincetown prints made over the last century.

I wanted share a small subset of that exhibit, the prints from those earliest days that 

show the life and times of people 100 years ago.  The scenes, the dress, the styles

and lifestyles captured in these prints is wonderful.  

Harvest of Sea by Flora Schofield, 1933

Woman Sewing by Maud Squire (etching) ca. 1915

"The Pianist" by Ethel Mars, ca. 1918

Tea Time in Morocco, Bror Nordfeldt, ca. 1916

The Party by Ethel Mars, ca. 1920

"Mother Love" by Edith Wilkinson, 1914

Figures and a Dog, Ada Gilmore, ca. 1916

This is my favorite one.  I've also seen this print titled "Gossip" which I love.

Aren't the outfits great?

Untitled, Mildred McMillen, ca. 1916

This is a great Provincetown scene before automobiles that now line the streets.  A horse and

buddy are perhaps delivering fish or ice.  The sailboats in the harbor seem to be floating the sky.

This amazing show of Provincetown prints work is on exhibit until August 10th, 2014.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum

460 Commercial Street

Provincetown, MA  02657

www.paam.org