With the grain: the woodcuts of Ren� Quillivic
The sculptor and wood engraver Ren� Quillivic (1879-1969) was born into a humble family in the village of Plouhinec in the department of Finist�re in Brittany. He attended the night classes at the �cole Boulle in Paris, studying sculpture under Marius Jean Antonin Merci�. Although he exhibited at various Paris Salons - des Artistes Fran�ais, de la Soci�t� Nationale des Beaux-Arts, des Ind�pendants, d'Automne - the art of Ren� Quillivic remained rooted in his native Brittany. He left his heart-rending mark on its landscape in the form of many war memorials to the fallen of the First World War. Many of these are in the Pays Bigouden, the area of Finist�re made famous by P�r-Jakez Helias in his marvellous book The Horse of Pride.
Besides his sculptures, Ren� Quillivic was noted for his woodcuts. He exhibited his prints in both Paris and London, and was a member of the Soci�t� de la Gravure sur Bois Originale. As a sculptor, Quillivic preferred the robustness of the woodcut (cut on the plank of the wood, with the grain) to the delicacy of the wood engraving (cut on the end grain).
No Breton artist can escape the sea, and Ren� Quillivic is no exception. All three of my Quillivic woodcuts are marine subjects. They show a certain Art Deco elegance, and also the lingering influence of Japonisme, especially in the beautifully rhythmical depiction of a tumultuous sea in La vague (The wave).
Perhaps the most remarkable of the three is the one entitled Oceano Nox, after a poem by Victor Hugo. Is the fisherman in the image drowning, or simply entering a new life in the undersea world? In his essay "Ren� Quillivic, graveur Breton" in the revue Byblis in 1929, Charles Chass� links this print to a second poem by Tristan Corbi�re, who writes of the death of sailors that
Ren� Quillivic, Marine bretonne
Woodcut, 1922
Besides his sculptures, Ren� Quillivic was noted for his woodcuts. He exhibited his prints in both Paris and London, and was a member of the Soci�t� de la Gravure sur Bois Originale. As a sculptor, Quillivic preferred the robustness of the woodcut (cut on the plank of the wood, with the grain) to the delicacy of the wood engraving (cut on the end grain).
Ren� Quillivic, La vague
Woodcut, 1929
No Breton artist can escape the sea, and Ren� Quillivic is no exception. All three of my Quillivic woodcuts are marine subjects. They show a certain Art Deco elegance, and also the lingering influence of Japonisme, especially in the beautifully rhythmical depiction of a tumultuous sea in La vague (The wave).
Ren� Quillivic, Oceano Nox
Woodcut, 1929
Perhaps the most remarkable of the three is the one entitled Oceano Nox, after a poem by Victor Hugo. Is the fisherman in the image drowning, or simply entering a new life in the undersea world? In his essay "Ren� Quillivic, graveur Breton" in the revue Byblis in 1929, Charles Chass� links this print to a second poem by Tristan Corbi�re, who writes of the death of sailors that
... ils sont mort dans leur bottes
Leur boujaron au coeur, tout vifs dans leur capotes.
They die with their boots on, their ration of rum in their hearts,
all alive in their sou'westers.
all alive in their sou'westers.
