Recognised internationally for his wood-engravings, John Buckland Wright originally came from Ōtepoti Dunedin and moved to England at a young age. He became interested in wood-engraving in the mid-1920s and taught himself the medium. Living in Brussels at this time, he joined De Vijf, a group of contemporary Belgian woodblock printers. He gained a reputation for book illustration and was commissioned to cut wood-engravings by some of the most celebrated private presses, including The Golden Cockerel Press. Among his best works are the fifty-eight wood-engravings he completed for John Keats’ Endymion, published by the Golden Cockerel Press in 1947, for which this work was made.

Ink on Paper: Aotearoa New Zealand Printmakers of the Modern Era, 11 February – 28 May 2023