Spring – The Great Storm

Monica Poole RE (1921-2003)

An exquisite wood engraving, signed, dated 1988 and titled in pencil.  Numbered 115/250.

From the folio The Great Storm published by The Society of Wood Engravers, featuring 5 individually mounted woodcuts by different artists, inspired by the storm of October 1987 and its aftermath (we currently have the other prints being sold individually). Note: photographs of the cover pages shown are for reference only.

The folio was sold to raise funds for the National Trust’s tree replanting fund.

Monica Poole wrote of her work “Many of the drawings for my engravings were made in the ancient woods which grew on the greensand ridge just north of Tonbridge.  In October 1987 these woods became a chaotic mass of uprooted trees….. So the subject of my engraving had to be chaos, but not the tangle of the immediate aftermath of the storm which was a shapeless mass.  The trees I drew grow just over the hill and are broken at the height of the hill – the height of the wind. They appear curiously out of proportion, their trunks more massive without their branches…..It would not have been difficult to design a pleasant sky and so make a more orderly design; but the feeling of unease caused by the knowledge that this destruction came from the sky was too strong and produced the rather uncomfortable clouds”

Measurements: 16.5 x 23 cm image size

Condition: Stored in its original box, the print is in fine condition. It is hinge mounted at the top into a cream mount.

This work has now been sold