Fall is a color reduction woodcut created in 2002 by American artist Gordon Mortensen. It is pencil signed, titled, dated, and editioned 7/100. It was printed by the artist in 40 colors with 38 press runs on white wove Arches paper and the image measures 22 x 30 inches.
Fall is a stunning representation of an autumnal landscape. Mortensen captured the mood of season with purple, golds, reds, oranges, and greens. Barren branches suggest the approach of winter, red leaves shimmer in the finality of their life cycle, and grasses turn golden in the cool depths of this woodland scene. Mortensen is a master of the reduction woodcut method carving numerous blocks and using a multiplicity of colors to create a painterly scene that has amazing depth. Fall evokes the coolness of twilight when the lingering sunlight sets the foliage ablaze.
Originally a portrait painter, Mortensen abandoned that media for reduction woodcutting, achieving the creative freedom he desired. He is one of a few practitioners of this method in the United States. He commented on his reduction process: "Only one woodblock is used. On it an image is drawn in India ink. Before the first color is printed, any areas that are to remain unprinted (white or the color of the paper) are cut away from the surface of the block. Then an oil base ink is used to print the first color on all of the sheets of paper that are to be used for the edition and proofs. After the first printing the block is again cut, removing any surface of the block that is to remain of the first color in the finished print. After each subsequent color is printed, the block is cut again, the process continues until the print is finished, and most of surface of the block is cut away."
Gordon Louis Mortensen was born near Arnegard, North Dakota in 1938. He received his B.F.A. with Honors in 1964 from the Minneapolis School of Art and he was enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul between 1969 and 1972. He is a member of the Boston Printmakers and has produced membership prints for the Albany Print Club and the Print Club of Rochester.
Gordon Mortensen holds an impressive record of solo exhibitions and has been included in numerous competitions and exhibitions. He is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Carnegie Institute, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Portland Art Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Worcester Art Museum.
