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Wood Engraving Wednesday

James G. Todd, Jr.

Two years after his retirement as an art professor at the University of Montana, noted wood engraver James G. Todd, Jr. (b. 1937) published his memoir, Tales of the Cold War (Helena, Montana: Drumlummon Institute, 2022), recalling his experiences related to superpower tensions after the Second World War from 1944-1991. These engraved portraits are of some of the individuals he encountered during a 1984 visit to China for a Montana-Hangzhou exchange:

Once Don and I were in the hands of our academy hosts, we were secure and controlled. Their two objectives were to make a favorable impression on us, and keep our contacts with individual Chinese as limited as possible. We met many Chinese but these contacts were almost always under regular scrutiny.

Born in Minneapolis, and raised in both Minneapolis and Seattle, Todd has spent most of his adult life in Montana as a student, teacher, and artist. He became an elected member in two international British organizations, the Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) in 1986, and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 1997. He is also a member of the American Wood Engravers' Network (WEN) , and our copy of this book is warmly inscribed to WEN's founder Jim Horton, from whom we also received this book as a donation. Todd writes:

Jim, . . . your leadership of WEN and my membership was an important part of my career. [Canadian engraver]Jim Westergaard and I worked in isolation as wood engravers for many years, and then we became part of the wood engraving world through WEN and the SWE. . . . I came to know your work and that of many fine American engravers I otherwise would have never known.

View more engravings by members of the Wood Engraver’s Network.

View more posts with wood engravings!