An Essay in Woodcuts

Walter J. Phillips published An Essay in Woodcuts in 1930. It was his third portfolio, and in many ways, his best in that it focused on a specific subject. The Canadian ethnologist, Marius Barbeau, provided a 'monograph' on the coastal Indians. Phillips' own comments in the portfolio (which follow) tell us why he turned to wood engraving. (It should be noted that while Phillips certainly made a distinction between the technique of the 'woodcut' and that of the 'wood engraving,' he uses the word 'woodcut' in his introductory essay.