Preserving a Master’s Hand: The AGO Retrospective
In Port Hope, Ontario, an artist’s studio hums with quiet precision as Janita Wiersma carefully lifts a sheet of paper from an inked copper printing plate. The reveal is a striking image: a blue flatfish with a red belly. It’s a piece tied to the late Newfoundland printmaker David Blackwood, celebrated for his intricate, story-driven imagery. The current wave of interest is not about creating new Blackwoods, but about honoring the meticulous craft that made his vision so enduring. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is staging a major retrospective to honor Blackwood’s impact, while Wiersma serves as the bridge between past and present, maintaining the archive and sharing the studio’s multidecade methods with visitors.
The Hand Behind the Plate: What Makes a Blackwood Original
Blackwood’s reputation rests on the conviction that a fine art print is an original work in it’s own right, not a mere reproduction of a painting. He insisted on full involvement in the process, pulling his own prints and never delegating to outside printers. “The plate was sheet music and a different musician would play it differently than the composer,” he liked to say, a sentiment that helps explain why a Blackwood print carries the artist’s decisive hand in every stage—from drawing to etching and tone-building.
From Scotia to Studio: The Technical Dance of Copperplate and Aquatint
The technical path Blackwood chose is demanding. Copperplate etching creates the fine lines, while aquatint adds depth through tonal variation. The sequence begins with a drawing copied onto tracing paper for reversal, then a copper plate coated with resist wax. The image is etched in acid, creating the grooves that will hold ink. Ink is rolled over the plate, wiped away from the surface, leaving ink only in the etched lines. A proof is pulled to test the image, and then the process may continue with aquatint—an optional but transformative step that introduces shading and texture via powdered rosin dissolved into the acid bath.
Aquatint’s unpredictability is part of its charm and risk; the tone becomes a deliberate, measured decision for the artist and printer. The final print emerges as a collaboration across time, where the craft demands steady hands, patient judgment, and an intimate knowledge of the process. The AGO’s curator underscores this respect for craft: Blackwood’s nuanced lines and tonal shifts are what separate his prints from mere posters or reproductive pieces.
A Lifetime of Craft, A Legacy of Stories
Blackwood’s Newfoundland in print ranges from shipwrecks and rescues to mighty whales and sea-swept longing, often drawn from family stories and memories predating his birth in 1941. He lived in Ontario but kept a strong tether to Newfoundland, building a summer studio and returning regularly to his homeland. The AGO retrospective, guided by curator Alexa Greist, frames these prints not as relics of a bygone era but as living documents of a storyteller who used medium and memory to keep a culture’s voice audible in urban spaces.
The Archive, The Studio, The Question of Posthumous Prints
When Blackwood could not pull his own prints for two years due to health problems, Wiersma proofed the results, including the iconic flatfish image. Yet as Anita Blackwood notes, posthumous prints from the uncancelled plates were never to be part of the estate’s plan. The plates are enduring artifacts of a singular practice, and the widow chose not to reutilize them for new editions. The AGO will display three of these copperplates as part of the broader narrative, illustrating a method that remains a benchmark for authenticity in fine art printmaking.
Why Blackwood Matters in a Modern Market
In a market crowded with signed posters and mass-produced reproductions, Blackwood’s prints stand as genuine originals, defined by a process in which the artist’s touch remains integral. His insistence on hands-on printmaking—paired with the discipline of archival stewardship—offers a compelling counterpoint to the era’s rapid, disposable artistic cycles. The AGO retrospective invites audiences to consider what makes a print valuable: the memory of a hand at the press, the careful negotiation between line and shade, and the lasting human stories that emerge when craft endures.
Timeless Craft, Contemporary Relevance
For students, collectors, and curious visitors alike, Blackwood’s legacy provides a blueprint for understanding fine art prints as originals in multiplicity. It’s a reminder that craft, patience, and personal history can elevate traditional media into resonant, contemporary art. The AGO’s presentation of the plates, the studio’s techniques, and Wiersma’s stewardship offers a rare, in-depth look at how a single artist’s discipline can echo across decades.
