Exhibitions

Illustrated Fine Printing: Whittington & Matrix in America

This exhibition will focus on the Whittington Press and its influential annual, Matrix, which provides an important platform for typographical dialog on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Ten American artists who have contributed articles and illustrations to Matrix will be featured, as well as English and European artists who have written and illustrated books for the Whittington Press.

Miriam Macgregor, Hellmuth Weissenborn, Howard Phipps, John Craig and Judith Verity have worked closely with the Press, producing wood engravings, pochoir, and linocut illustrations for finely printed editions. John Randle and his wife Rose, proprietors of The Whittington Press, have created an environment where author, artist and printer, punchcutter and typecaster can work separately and together to explore their skills, nurturing each other through the vehicle of Matrix‘s varied pages.

American artists include Lowell Bodger, Carolee Campbell, Sandy Connors, Robin Heyeck, Jerry Kelly, Stan Nelson, Theo Rehak, Abigail Rorer and Gaylord Schanilec working in media that run the gamut of the book arts from calligraphy to creating type, from wood engraving to paper marbling and binding.

The exhibition also includes a short film (click here to watch) of The Whittington Press as it completes Matrix 27, and of Miriam Macgregor at work on a wood engraving.

Exhibition Checklist:

Lowell Bodger

“Pure Typography: Lowell Bodger” by Justin Howes
(1999) Matrix 19, book

19th Century Advertisment from Chamber’s Journal
(1994) Broadside

Advertisement to Authors
(1988) From ‘Mechanick Exercises’, broadside

Experimental Printing 95-B (Insert for Matrix 19)
(1999) Broadside

Pigeons/Eons
(1996) Broadside

Type Form (19th Century Advertisement to Chamber’s Journal)
(1994) Type form

Carolee Campbell

“Ninja Press at Twenty”
(2005) Matrix 25, book

The Book of Silences
(2000) Book

The Intimate Stranger
(2006) Book

Dan Carr

“Casting Chinese Type”
(2003) Matrix 23, book

“Making a Visible Spirit: Cutting in the Regulus Punches by Hand”
(1996) Matrix 16, book

Dan Carr & Julia Ferrari

3 Seals
(2001) Broadside/ Hand Colored Photo Engraving

Peace Broadside/ Among the Hills
(2002) Broadside/ Wood Type

The Reach of the Heart
(2008) Book

Sandy Connors

Busy as a Bee
(2002) Book/ wood engraving

Illustration for “Tiern: Creating New Type” by Nicholas Parry
(2002) Matrix 22, book

Print from woodblock (Quince)
(2002) Hand colored wood engraving

Quince
(2002) Woodblock

John Craig

Locks of the Oxford Canal
(1984) Book

Leslie Gerry

PORTmeirion
(2008) Book/ digital images

Vance Gerry & Miriam MacGregor

Vance Gerry: The Engravings & Drawings
(2007) Broadside/ drawing and pochoir

Barbara Henry

Whittington 2008: Part 1: Printing Matrix 27, Part 2: Miriam MacGregor
(2008) DVD 28 min. 54 sec.

Robin Heyeck

“Marbling as Book Illustration”
(1988) Matrix 8, book

Adventures of a Marbler
(2006) Book

Jerry Kelly

“Type: That Obscure Object of Desire”
(2004) Matrix 24, book

Assortment of Holiday Cards

Devil’s Thoughts, The, Text of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
letterpress

Miriam MacGregor

“The Forgotten Pleasures of Hand-Setting”
(2003) Matrix 23, book

A House by the Sea
(2005) Book/ pochoir

A House by the Sea Proof
(2005) Pochoir

Allotments
(1985) Book/ wood engravings

Aspects of a Cotswold Village
(1991) Book/ wood engravings

Diary of an Apple Tree
(1997) Book/ wood engravings

Song of the Scythe
(1983) Book/ wood engravings

Monotype Corporation

Monotype Matrix Case
Matrix case for No. 290 Stymie Medium, donated by Lowell Bodger

Gwenda Morgan

The Diary of a Land Girl
(2002) Book/ wood engravings

The Wood Engravings of Gwenda Morgan
(1985) Book/ wood engravings

Stan Nelson

“Any Fool Can Cut a Punch”
(1984) Matrix 4, book

Brass Type Mold with Matrix
(2007) Type Mould

Five Lines Pica Antique (specimen sheet)
(2003) Broadside from Matrix 25

Specimen Sheet
(2008) Hand engraving

John O’Connor

“Twins”
(1991) Matrix 11, book

The English Scene: The wood Engravings of John O’Connor
(2004) Book/ wood engravings

Howard Phipps

Ebble Valley
(2007) Book/ wood engravings

Fine Press Book Fair
(1997) Broadside/ engravings

Interiors
(1985) Book/ wood engravings

Stubble Burning
(1982) Book/ wood engravings

John Randle

Matrix Enters its 3rd Decade
(2001) Broadside

Sorry if we are Closed
(2008) Broadside

When Caxton Discovered
(2008) Broadside/ eood engravings

Theo Rehak

“Meadows”
Matrix 15, book, sortf from the Meadow Border

B42 Patterns, sorts and proofs

Abigail Rorer

“Printing Mimpish Squinnies”
Matrix 27, book

Mimpish Squinnies by Reginald Farrer
(2008) Book

Of Woodland Pools, Spring-holes & Ditches by Henry David Thoreau
(2005) Book

Gaylord Schanilec

“Wood engraving from Wrenching Times”
(1992) Matrix 12, book

Mayflies
(2005) Book/ wood engravings

Print from Sylva
(2008) Color wood block

Various Artists

A Miscellany of Type
(1990) Specimen book

Judith Verity

God Be In My Head
(2003) Broadside/ linocut

Rose’s Aga Recipes
(1995) Book/ linocuts

Hellmuth Weissenborn

A Small Garden Planted for Matrix (from M 26)
(2006) Broadside/ wood engravings

Country Scenes
(2001) 2 Booklets/ wood engravings

Hellmuth Weissenborn, Engraver
(1983) Book/ wood engravings

London Scenes
(2001) Book/ wood engravings

Painter and Graphic Artist
(1983) Signatures

Artist Talk:
Friday, October 3rd, 6:30pm
with John Randle
suggested donation: $10/$5 CBA members

Support for the Center for Book Arts’ visual arts programming is provided, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Illustrated Fine Printing: Whittington & Matrix in America

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Whittington & Matrix in America

Barbara Henry