Logan, Herschel (1901-1987) "In the Ozark Foothills" block print

Herschel Logan (1901-1987) block print "In the Foothills" pencil signed lower right, good condition, image size: 3 x 4.5 inches. Born in Magnolia, Missouri in 1901, and reared from early childhood on a farm near Winfield, Kansas, Herschel Logan was surrounded by common things and found them beautiful.Logan is distinguished among Midwestern artists for the force and vitality of his woodcut prints. He had never heard of woodcuts until he became employed in the art department of a Wichita printing company. He spent a year in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, taking all the drawing he could get in by day classes and studying by correspondence at night. He was also an eager student of design.By chance a customer of a Wichita printing firm urged Logan to go talk to Mr. C. A. Seward (1884-1939). That very evening he went to see Seward and learned for the first time about the making of woodcuts. The next day he set out to find a piece of cherry wood. Putting a fine edge on his pocket knife, he made his first woodcut print.The Kansas landscape he found along the roadside became the subject for many of his prints. Blazing sunlight effects in summer, falling snow and drifted farmsteads in winter are found in his prints. He often masses areas of black in contrast to splashes of light.As a charter member of the Prairie Print Makers Society, Herschel Logan (1901 – 1987) was recognized among his peers as one of the foremost printmakers in Kansas when the group was founded in 1930. Over his lifetime, Logan’s woodcuts received more than thirty prizes in art exhibitions throughout the region and U.S. They are represented in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, New York Public Library and other esteemed institutions.Logan’s method of creating a woodcut is best documented in the book, Herschel Logan: Man of Many Careers by Anthony Lehman. He writes, "working either from photographs or field sketches, he would first make a rough outline on the block using tracing paper, then ponder the initial design for several days. After his imagination and innate artistic sense had a chance to function, the completed picture – which had largely evolved in his mind – was then realized on the wood." Generally, his editions numbered 50 prints.Logan made approximately 140 woodcuts from 1921 to 1938. In the early 1930s, he was named Art Director for Consolidated Printing in Salina and remained there until his retirement in 1967.Throughout his life, he was active in civic and service organizations, including the Masons and Rotary International. He was an authority on antique firearms, the Civil War, and active in the National Rifle Association – writing a monthly article for the National Rifleman magazine from approximately 1945 to 1965. He also created a cartoon called "the Colonel Says" that ran in the Salina Journal and was sponsored by Consolidated Printing. After he retired, Logan moved to Santa Ana, California, and began printing miniature books using a Baby Reliance Press.He died in Santa Ana in 1987.Although he created a limited amount of woodcuts, he established a reputation as one of the finest masters of the medium and received numerous awards in juried competitions. His prints have a decisively elegant aspect that makes them instantly recognizable.

Condition: good condition

Dimensions: 13 x 14.25 x 1 in

Weight: 2.9 lb

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