Undiscovered Printmakers: Hidden Treasures at Georgetown University Library

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1984
25/200
205 x 154 mm
####.1.6223.3

Gift of Jack Pierson in memory of Robert Martin Purcell

De Pol was one of twelve outstanding American wood engravers commissioned to produce a self-portrait for a limited edition portfolio, Face to Face, to honor his friend Lynd Ward on the approach of his eightieth birthday (see Lynd Ward section above for Ward's contribution). The artist appropriately depicted himself on the face of an upright wood block, surrounded by the tools of his trade—hand-held burins and a printing press in the background.

John De Pol
Lithograph on paper
1944
ed. 34
228 x 270 mm
2013.1.2

Gift of Marguerite Coulter

In 1943 De Pol was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Force as an intelligence clerk and served overseas in Northern Ireland, England, France and Germany. In his free time he sketched the towns, village streets, aerodromes and countrysides. While stationed in Northern Ireland he continued his study of lithography at the College of Art in Belfast and produced a series of zinc plate lithographs which he printed at the School of Technology in Belfast.

When he returned home to the U.S., De Pol transcribed his early sketches into etchings and wood engravings. Northern Ireland truly inspired De Pol and he returned to visit it several times in subsequent years. In 1977 he produced a portfolio of his wood engravings, Ireland Remembered, a GI’s Recollection (below). In July 1947 the Hudson Park Branch of the New York Public Library held an exhibition of De Pol’s lithographs, etchings and drawings in Greenwich Village.

John De Pol Papers

John De Pol
Etching on paper
1947
4/14?
150 x 200 mm
1992.1.309

De Pol recalled the subject of this scene he encountered while stationed in France:

“It was not functioning as a monastery. Part of it was a school and the elderly lady (you can see her under the archway) lived in an apartment next to it. I stood there, sketching, when presently she came out of the door holding a chair…. I smiled, and accepted it. A little later that afternoon a class of children was let out. They ran over, surrounded me and watched me sketch. Soon after I pulled some sticks of gum form my pockets, broke them in small pieces and passed them round. They all smiled in a language of friendship we all understood.”

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
ca. 1950
127 x 102 mm
1992.1.9

In 1950 De Pol approached Devin-Adair Co. seeking to illustrate a book for them. His portfolio of Irish sketches from his time stationed there during the war must have heavily influenced their decision to offer him work. The first book he illustrated for them was Liam O’Flaherty’s Two Lovely Beasts and Other Stories (above). Five years later, he illustrated James Plunkett’s The Trusting and the Maimed and Other Irish Stories (below).

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1955
136 x 87 mm (approx.)
1992.1.17

James Plunkett
New York: Devin-Adair Co., 1955
PR6066.L84 T78 1955

New York, NY: William Edwin Rudge
August – September 1954: Vol. IX, Number 2
John De Pol Papers

Featuring cover illustration by John De Pol.

John De Pol
Pencil (graphite) on tracing paper
1991
130 x 80 mm
1992.1.120

John De Pol
Pencil (graphite) on tracing paper
1991
125 x 75 mm
1992.1.125

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1991
ed. 50
122 x 75 mm
1992.1.117

In 1950 De Pol began to join dinners of an informal group of noted designers, printers and other book people called the Typophiles. Morris Gelfand became president of the group in 1990, and recruited De Pol to illustrate keepsakes for the Typophile luncheons. During the six years of Gelfand’s presidency, De Pol illustrated every luncheon keepsake, but two (a total of 32 keepsakes). De Pol remained a loyal member of The Typophiles for the rest of his life.

The sequence of objects above demonstrates the technical stages involved in producing a wood engraving. This keepsake was designed for the Typophiles meeting which accompanied a talk by Michael Hentges, Director of Graphic Design at Museum of Modern Art, in 1991.

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1987
112 x 75 mm
1992.1.73

This engraving originally appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Anecdotes and Eulogies, the thirtieth and last of the annual keepsakes, in 1982. At the time, it was mistakenly printed upside down. The keepsake image was used again to advertise a talk given by John De Pol at the Book Club of California, November 23, 1987.

Benjamin Franklin
New York: privately printed, 1969
NE1112. D46 A4 1969

In 1953 De Pol began to produce miniature books known as the Benjamin Franklin Keepsake editions. These mementos were created to celebrate the life, thoughts and work of the patron saint of printing and the nation’s most famous printer. The books, with special fonts and illustrations, focused less on the written word and more on the sheer beauty of the book. They were distributed at the New York print industry’s annual Franklin Awards Dinner.

The keepsakes were collectibles and the series ran through thirty editions, from 1953 to 1983, and included 401 of De Pol’s most charming wood engravings. This outstanding commission made De Pol widely known in the graphic arts field.

John De Pol
1968
55 x 98 mm
1992.1.311

De Pol worked in a tradition of painstaking craftsmanship. A block could take ten days to finish. The medium requires much patience and is one of the most expressive of the printmaking methods. There is no margin for error when creating a wood engraving. Unlike with other printmaking techniques such as etching, in wood engraving the design cannot be changed once it is carved.

John De Pol Papers

De Pol worked for 23 years as a consulting art director for several financial printing firms, and was involved in the design and production of financial documents, mainly annual reports. De Pol quickly earned wide respect in the world of commerce, working in many designer and production capacities for Security-Columbian Banknote Company (Secol, later re-named United States Banknote Corporation and Pandick Press). He became known as their artist-in-residence and kept a position at the company until his retirement in 1978.

From 1974 to 1981 De Pol and Don Wesely, Divisional Vice President of Customer Relations at Secol, embarked on a seven-year collaboration to produce a series of 15 keepsakes, featuring De Pol’s wood engravings together with commentary by Wesely.

John De Pol
New York: Pandick Press
John De Pol Papers

In 1974 Wesely established The De Pol Room at USBC—a grand collection of his wood engravings, etchings and lithographs, the rarest of which were loaned by the artist himself. After the division was acquired by Pandick Press in February 1976, he re-established a similar conference room, devoted to De Pol’s work. The result was a permanent exhibition of his work, available for public view.

John De Pol
Gelatin silver photographic print on paper
John De Pol Papers

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1974
ed. 500 (artist note says 161 limited editions were hand-signed by artist, of which this is one)
140 x 258 mm
1992.1.206

This keepsake print produced for the United States Banknote Corporation depicts the demolished West Side Market in Manhattan, and other buildings which were subsequently torn down. De Pol grew up in the general neighborhood and was very fond of the area. The scene expresses a personal nostalgia and melancholy about the recent changes, made in the name of urban renewal.

De Pol commented on the subject of the image: “This was a favorite part of New York for me. I had known it intimately. It was my boyhood playground…bringing back memories of the Battery farther south, the old elevated trains and stations nearby, and the teeming river traffic. All of this is but a fond memory now, and soon even these buildings will be torn down.”

This chiaroscuro wood engraving was made using the cameo technique: a key block highlights the linear forms, and a tint block fills in the remaining color, from which the highlights had been cut out. This print won the John Taylor Arms Memorial Prize at the 143rd Annual Exhibition of the National Academy and the Albany Print Club Purchase Prize. It was reproduced and described in a feature article, “A New Chiaroscuro Wood Engraving by John De Pol” by William Caxton, Jr. in the February 1968 issue of American Artist magazine.

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1975
ed. 500
160 x 103 mm
1992.1.216

De Pol described this scene: “This street is the Bowery…. The ‘el’ overhead was a large station, the junction of Third and Second Avenue ‘els.’ Here were the Bowery flophouses—the cheap cafeterias—which fed and bedded the ‘Down & Out’—the tattoo shops. Just south, on Park Row, were music instrument shops, and pawn shops, really colorful.”

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1987
ed. 50
135 x 95 mm
1992.1.77

John De Pol created numerous images of presses, printing equipment, press rooms and printers throughout his career. His images idealized the culture of printing and he presented the image of the press as an icon of reverence and beauty. In 1991 he produced a suite of fifteen engravings of antique presses, many of which once belonged to iconic figures in printing history, to accompany printing historian Stephen O. Saxe’s American Iron Hand Presses (below).

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1987
ed. 50
123 x 82 mm
1992.1.80

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1988
ed. 65
95 x 92 mm
1992.1.95

Stephen O. Saxe
Council Bluffs, Iowa: Yellow Barn Press; Madison: Library, Madison Campus, Fairleigh Dickinson University
1991
92A107

John De Pol
Wood engraving on paper
1983
ed. 160
152 x 112 mm
1992.1.367