Wednesday 18 November 2009

Introduction

Andrew Anderson's astonishing linocuts are an arresting mix of image, lettering and symbolism. The images show strong influences of his background as an architect with a particular interest in mediaeval architecture; the lettering brings Eric Gill to mind, but with an added fluency and versatility; and much of the symbolism comes from his involvement with cathedral and church architecture.

He combines these three elements with immense skill and with a rare dedication, and yet his images have an astonishing vibrance and magnetism. Little known or seen over the years, hampered perhaps because of their size, they appear here for the first time in a readily available form, each with a note by the artist explaining its content and symbolism.

The large format of A Vision of Order allows most of the prints to be tipped in unfolded. Like The Whittington Press's Posters published in 1996, it will be a monumental volume in its own right, set in a large size of the Caslon type for which the Press has become renowned.