Nicholson, William. Sir Henry Hawkins. Original antique lithograph after a woodcut. Published by Heinemann in 1899.

Original antique coloured lithography by William Nicholson
Published by William Heinemann, 1899

Nicholson, William (1872 – 1949) was a British painter of still-life, landscape and portraits. He also worked as a printmaker in techniques including woodcut, wood-engraving and lithography, as an illustrator, as an author of children’s books and as a designer for the theatre.

He is best known for his wood cuts which he designed to illustrate numerous books. Amongst the most popular of these were “An Alphabet”, “Twelve Portraits. “, “An Almanac of Twelve Sports” and “London Types”, from which this woodcut comes.

With their two-tone minimalism of black and brown, highlighted with splashes of colour, Nicholson’s “London Types” display an approach to design that remains modern to this day. It was no surprise that at the age of twenty-six, when his “London Types” was published, that Nicholson was considered Britain’s greatest living printmaker.