The Art of Eric Bergman

A major book on the brilliant German-Canadian engraver and block-printmaker

ESTIMATED PUBLICATION DATE:
stay tuned

Plans are now well advanced for our major book on the work of Eric Bergman, the brilliant German-Canadian engraver and block-printmaker of the early to mid-20th century. The texts of the book are complete and largely edited, and the design of the edition is nearing a final shape.

We first encountered Bergman’s work when we were researching Endgrain: Contemporary Wood-engraving in North America in the mid-1990s, thirty years ago. Together with such other figures as Walter J Phillips and Edwin Holgate, Bergman caught a distinctly Canadian element in both technique and the approach to his subject to which we responded very strongly. We were unable to include the work of these artists in Endgrain, as we had made the decision to restrict participants to living artists, but their images lingered in memory.

When in 2012 Geist magazine published Michael Hayward’s article about Barbarian Press which mentioned our interest in wood engraving, we were delighted and somewhat astonished soon afterwards to receive a letter from Norma Bergman and Karen Paul, Bergman’s granddaughters, saying that they had their grandfather’s engraved blocks, and might we be interested in publishing a book about him and his work? The rest, it might be said, is (or will be) history.

Our book on Bergman, whose final title is yet to be decided (its present working title is simply ‘The Art of Eric Bergman’) will include over 80 engravings printed from the original blocks, which have been carefully preserved by his grand-daughters. Eric Bergman was a close friend of the painter and printmaker Walter Phillips, who as well as being well known as an engraver is also credited with introducing the Japanese-style colour woodcut into the Canadian art scene between the wars. Bergman learned this technique from Phillips, and as well as his extant engravings, printed from the blocks, our book will include some examples of his colour woodcuts. Most will be reproductions, but a few of these will we hope be newly printed from inks applied with brushes to blocks and hand-rubbed in the Ukiyo-e style. This specialized work will be undertaken by Edith Krause – whose enchanting woodcuts in An Avian Alphabet will be familiar to our subscribers. Edith studied Ukiyo-e printing as a student, and is eager to return to the form. We have high hopes.

Karen Paul and Norma Bergman have written a biographical essay on their grandfather, and a critical appraisal of Bergman’s work has been provided by Art Historian and retired Canadian Senator Patricia Bovey – former Curator and Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and past member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada. The book will include photographs and reproduced plates of other works, including oil paintings and drawings. Discussions and plans for this are ongoing, and we intend putting it into the press immediately following the publication of Bordering on the Sublime.