John De Pol, 91, an Artist Who Excelled at Woodcuts
Hyfler/Rosner
BYLINE: By WOLFGANG SAXON NY Times
Woodcuts:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rulib/abtlib/danlib/bookarts/ba-jdp.htm
http://www.oldprintshop.com/cgi-bin/gallery.pl?action=browse&creator_id=8601
John De Pol, whose familiar woodcut images were long a
considerable presence in American art and illustration, died
on Wednesday at a hospital in Teaneck, N.J. He was 91 and
lived in Cliffside Park, N.J.
His death was announced by the University of Delaware
Library, where a retrospective of his work that opened in
August was scheduled to close yesterday. Mr. De Pol started
drawing as an art student in the 1930's and continued
working until shortly before his death. His work was
featured in illustrated books and in books about his work,
as well as in numerous exhibitions and one-man shows.
Examples can be found in museums and galleries across the
country and overseas. He carved thousands of images, for
commercial graphic designs and for private presses and art
printers. His woodcuts were noted both for their technical
excellence and for their artistry.
Although he was best known for woodcuts, his prodigious
output included etchings (aquatint and dry point),
lithographic works, dry-brush drawings, watercolors and oil
paintings.
John De Pol was born in Greenwich Village and returned there
throughout his life to capture the grit of its streets and
alleys. His passion for old New York lent character to the
buildings he conjured in his chiaroscuro images.
As a young man he worked as a statistics clerk and
securities runner on Wall Street and studied lithography in
night classes at the Art Students League. Serving in the
Army Air Force in World War II and based in Northern
Ireland, he managed to continue those studies at the College
of Art in Belfast, and Ireland became a favorite subject.
After the war he worked for commercial printing firms and on
freelance commissions, illustrating private-press booklets
and limited-edition books as well as making individual
prints. He was associated with publishers including John
Anderson, Arthur Rushmore and John Fass, and for years
worked in the financial printing industry, designing annual
reports and other materials for companies including United
States Banknote Corporation and Pandick Press.
In the 1980's he taught wood engraving at the South Street
Seaport Museum in Manhattan, at Fairleigh Dickinson
University in New Jersey and at the University of Nebraska.
Mr. De Pol is survived by his wife of 58 years, Thelma Roth
De Pol, and a daughter, Patricia De Pol, also of Cliffside
Park.