#david leighton

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

English/American artist, writer, and illustrator Clare Leighton (1898-1989) was a frequent visitor to Cape Cod in all seasons during her lifetime, and in 1954 she produced these wood engravings to express her fondness for this part of the American experience. She writes:

Because I love this particular earth and sea I have tried to show the basic, enduring life of Cape Cod. Too many of us come here only during the months of summer, when the scene is cluttered with vacationists, and the true spirit of the land is forced into hiding. . . . But fully to love Cape Cod, we must live the loneliness of the winter, and be fearless against the assault of a northeaster. . . . Only then can we enjoy to the full those incomparable days of sun and sea that come in their due season. But, . . . of greater value is the life of the workers upon the land and sea. . . . If you should know and love Cape Cod you must be aware of the fishermen and their families.

Such is evident in these engravings, reproduced in Clare Leighton’s Rural Life: An Anthology, published in Oxford by the Bodleian Library in 2023. The book was edited with an introduction by Leighton’s devoted nephew, David Leighton (1931-2022), who sadly did not live to see its publication.

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[navyhistory]

"Leighton was very smart, a brilliant engineer, and impeccably loyal. On occasion Rickover would get furious with him, have a tantrum, and say to him, “that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. I don’t know why I put up with your stupidity. You’re not doing what I told you to do.” Leighton would stand there, listen to Rickover, then continue his conversation as if Rickover hadn’t even spoken. Rickover would always simmer down and eventually agree with Leighton, once Dave explained himself." Nuclear Engineering Pioneer David T. Leighton: A proponent of Naval History who made History

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

Today we display some horticultural wood engravings by English/American artist, writer, and illustrator Clare Leighton (1898-1989) from Clare Leighton’s Rural Life: An Anthology, published in Oxford by the Bodleian Library in 2023. The book was edited with an introduction by Leighton’s devoted nephew, David Leighton (1931-2022), who sadly did not live to see its publication. Throughout her long career, Clare Leighton delighted in the organic forms of farms and countryside.

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[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

Clare Leighton, Country Matters

These engravings are by the great English/American defender and illustrator of rural life Clare Leighton (1898-1989). They first appeared in her 1937 book Country Matters published in New York by Macmillan. We hold a first edition copy of that book, but these illustrations were scanned from reproductions in Clare Leighton’s Rural Life: An Anthology, published in Oxford by the Bodleian Library in 2023. This book was edited with an introduction by Leighton’s devoted nephew, David Leighton (1931-2022), who sadly did not live to see its publication.

The title for Country Matters alludes to the many tings that happen in the countryside, but Leighton makes clear that the title's real import is that what goes on in the country is important. She writes:

To balance the restless tug of modern civilization there stand the hills and the woods by day and the smokeless starlight by night. . . . If I am defiant in my defense of the countryside, it is because I know it is the last hope for sanity. . . . At no time has this been more needed, and at no time have we been at greater risk of losing it.

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[uwmspeccoll]

New Year's Eve

As we wind down our winter work and settle in to await the New Year, we take a moment to consider the fruits of our labors over the past year and contemplate the coming of the new one. To help with that, on this last Wood Engraving Wednesday of 2025, we offer these engravings by English/American artist, writer, and illustrator Clare Leighton (1898-1989) from Clare Leighton’s Rural Life: An Anthology, published in Oxford by the Bodleian Library in 2023. The book was edited with an introduction by Leighton’s devoted nephew, David Leighton (1931-2022), who sadly did not live to see its publication. Clare Leighton was one of the most prolific and highly regarded wood engravers of her time, leaving behind a body of work that reflected her rural life in Britain and North America.

Claire Leighton was leery of growing urbanization in the 1920s and 1930s, as the Great Depression led to fears that many might never again earn a living from traditional work on the land. This is evident in the first engraving, Snow Shovelers (1929). The following engravings are part of a series documenting her time in a lumber camp on the Quebec-Ontario border in 1931. Her nephew writes:

At first the men of the camp were suspicious of this lone woman. However, when she hid her fear at the howling of the wolves and shared the men's food and some of their hardships she won their respect. They told her fantastic tales of Paul Bunyan . . . and she was able to make numerous pencil sketches and notes.

The text continues with excerpts from Claire Leighton's diary recounting her several outings with the lumberjacks in the dead of winter.

On this last, cold December night, we wish you a warm and safe New Year.

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[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

CLARE LEIGHTON

Here are a few engravings from a recent acquisition for our reference collection on the engravings of English/American artist, writer, and illustrator Clare Leighton (1898-1989), Clare Leighton's Rural Life: An Anthology, published in Oxford by the Bodleian Library in 2023. The book was edited with an introduction by Leighton's devoted nephew David Leighton (1931-2022), who sadly did not live to see its publication. Clare Leighton was one of the most prolific and highly regarded wood engravers of her time, leaving behind a body of work that reflected her rural life in Britain and North America.

During the 1930s, as the world around her became increasingly technological, industrial, and urban, Leighton portrayed rural folk and the ancient methods they used to work the land that would soon vanish forever. Her two best-loved publications, Four Hedges (1931) and The Farmer's Year (1933), reflect this passion for the British countryside. Less well known are her books illustrating and describing rural life in the United States, where she emigrated and became a naturalized citizen in 1945. Leighton also spent time in Canada with the logging community, winning the respect of Canadian lumberjacks by adopting their way of life. Her wood engravings depicting lumberjacks in the snow-covered forests of Canada are some of her most evocative prints.

This anthology includes beautifully reproduced extracts and David Leighton's detailed introduction to the artist's life and work, reflecting Clare Leighton's lifelong fascination with the virtues of the countryside and the people who worked the land.

View more posts with work by Clare Leighton.

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[officialhs-net]

meet the 1953-54 professors ! (part 3/4)

❝ We teachers are rather good at magic. We've even been known to turn out a worthwhile witch or wizard on occasion.

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[officialhs-net]

“David discreetly accepted the flask from Arlo. He didn't want to get caught by either his boss or his students, but he wasn't the type that ever turned down a drink. He added some of the contents to his own goblet and passed it back.”

-- David Leighton

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