Forestry Commission National Forest Park Guide; Border Guide, 1958 - "In The Sprucewoods" illustration by George Mackley
This is a splendid illustration contained in the guide to the Border Forest Park, one of a series of guides were issued for by the state owned Forestry Commission and that included The Border, Snowdonia, Cambrian Forests, Glamorgan Forests, The Forest of Dean & Wye Valley, Westbirt Arboretum, the New Forest and Bedgebury Pinetum.
At the time these forests were being managed to redevelop the nation's home timber stocks after wartime depletion and the conifer monoculture that often prevailed was to be heavily criticised. That said the Forest Parks, along the National Parks, were and still are a remarkable national asset for leisure and recreation.
This front cover is dominated by a work by the artist George Edward Mackley (1900 - 1983) who, in my opinion, is one of the best of the many British mid-20th century artists who rediscovered wood engravings. Inside is this evocative image also by Mackley called "in The Sprucewoods", a boxwood engraving and even allowing for printing and reproduction it is a fine piece of work. Oh that modern guides, where issued, still were of this standard of artistry and production. I know that such works are far removed from more impressionist or derived works but this is just so wonderfully skilled and meticulous.
Interestingly enough the same view from the Keilder Forest was used in a later Forestry Commission guide but by another celebrated landscape artist of the day, C F Tunnicliffe.
Forestry Commission National Forest Park Guide; Border Guide, 1958 - "In The Sprucewoods" illustration by George Mackley
This is a splendid illustration contained in the guide to the Border Forest Park, one of a series of guides were issued for by the state owned Forestry Commission and that included The Border, Snowdonia, Cambrian Forests, Glamorgan Forests, The Forest of Dean & Wye Valley, Westbirt Arboretum, the New Forest and Bedgebury Pinetum.
At the time these forests were being managed to redevelop the nation's home timber stocks after wartime depletion and the conifer monoculture that often prevailed was to be heavily criticised. That said the Forest Parks, along the National Parks, were and still are a remarkable national asset for leisure and recreation.
This front cover is dominated by a work by the artist George Edward Mackley (1900 - 1983) who, in my opinion, is one of the best of the many British mid-20th century artists who rediscovered wood engravings. Inside is this evocative image also by Mackley called "in The Sprucewoods", a boxwood engraving and even allowing for printing and reproduction it is a fine piece of work. Oh that modern guides, where issued, still were of this standard of artistry and production. I know that such works are far removed from more impressionist or derived works but this is just so wonderfully skilled and meticulous.
Interestingly enough the same view from the Keilder Forest was used in a later Forestry Commission guide but by another celebrated landscape artist of the day, C F Tunnicliffe.