Midwest modern: the color woodcuts of Mabel Hewit

Midwest Modern: The Color Woodcuts of Mabel Hewit is the first book showcasing the work of an important modernist printmaker. An Ohio artist, Hewit (1903-1984), who came of age in the 1920s, was well aware of European modernism and other contemporary trends and worked in both representational and abstract styles. A printmaker of distinction, Hewit's inventive woodcuts of real life scenes and subjects describe the world in joyful color with an immediacy that belie their small size. Early in her career she learned the white-line color woodcut technique from its most famous practitioner, Blanche Lazzell. She explored and perfected this technique for the rest of her professional life. Her subject matter reflects local Ohio scenery, visits to Provincetown, the environs of the Summer School of Painting (Ox-Bow) in Saugatuck, Michigan, and travels to Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean. This collection-featuring more than 100 color images-coincides with the Cleveland Museum of Art exhibition on display through October 24, 2010.