Woodcut and wood engraving

Woodcut and wood engraving, techniques for producing pictures by incising a design on a block of wood, inking the design, and then pressing the inked block onto paper. Those parts of the design that are to be white are cut away and not inked, leaving in relief the areas to be printed. Woodcut is the older method, originating in China and Japan, and used in Europe from the 14th century, particularly for book illustration. Eminent artists in the medium include Albrecht Dürer, Gauguin, and Maillol. In wood engraving the artist uses a tool called a burin, producing a design of white lines on a black background. It became popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.