De l’Orme cuts wood

An overview of his woodcuts

Just as M.C. Escher did, The Hague-based artist Jos de l’Orme (1962) has a great predilection for the woodcut. However, he is not fascinated by themes such as reflection, repetition or tessellation. De l’Orme portrays people and animals and is concerned with nature. He uses strong stylisation with animals and people, a simplification that can arise from the graphic technique of woodcarving. For the works “after nature” there is often more of a fluid style with interlocking and complementary shapes.

For De l’Orme, the woodblock has the same plastic value as the print we usually see. A print is the print of a woodblock where the image can be seen in mirror image. Jos de l’Orme’s woodblocks are autonomous works of art. He does give the blocks a colour—light blue, black or orange—but not with the intention of printing prints.