Nicholson was not a Quaker but I have found at least two examples of Quaker xylographers and would be glad to hear of any more.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) was born in Cologne and trained as an artist, choosing
wood engraving as his special medium. With the rise
of Hitler, Eichenberg, who came from an assimilated Jewish background, decided
he had no future in Germany so in 1933 he managed to get his family out of the
country and emigrate to the United States. In 1938 the tragic death of his
wife prompted an emotional breakdown but he found solace in his
conversion to Quakerism. In the Society of Friends he was attracted by the
spirit of simplicity and stillness and the quest for the Peaceable Kingdom.
The Peaceable Kingdom by Fritz Eichenberg |
Another major
event in his life was his meeting in 1949 with Dorothy
Day, editor of the pacifist Catholic Worker newspaper. By this time
Eichenberg had achieved some renown for his illustrations of the Russian
classics, a passion for which he shared with Day. There was an instantaneous
communion of spirits between the two, and Eichenberg gladly responded to Day’s
invitation to contribute his art to her paper. Day felt strongly that images
could touch people emotionally and communicate the Catholic Worker spirit to
people who, perhaps, could not read the articles. For his part, Eichenberg felt
that in this Catholic newspaper, with its emphasis on the works of mercy and
the witness for peace, he had found the expression of his own spiritual and
moral convictions. He made woodcuts for the paper throughout his life although he always remained a Quaker.
Mary Packer Harris was born in 1891 in Middlesborough in Yorkshire to Quaker parents. She trained as an artist in Edinburgh and graduated from the School of Art there in 1913, going on to take a postgraduate course in woodblock printing under F. Morley Fletcher. Mary taught in Scotland until 1921 when she and her parents travelled to Australia to join her brother who was living in Adelaide. She took up a teaching post at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts in 1922 and remained there until 1953.
Nocturne Elder Gardens 1927 |
And all this because I was looking for a word beginning with X!
2 comments:
I think William Nicholson WAS a Quaker.
I don't believe he was. His father was a Conservative MP and there are no obvious Quaker names in his family as far as I can see.
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