The story of British landscape art between the wars is often told through the work of artists such as Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious. Yet some of the most original and influential interpretations of the countryside came from women printmakers, who found in wood engraving not only a powerful artistic medium, but also a pathway to professional independence. 

At a time when opportunities for women artists remained limited, wood engraving offered something unusual. Unlike painting, it required relatively little studio space or expensive equipment and could be practised from home. Just as importantly, the flourishing market for illustrated books, magazines and private press publications created opportunities to earn a living through artistic work. 

As a result, women played a central role in the revival of British wood engraving during the 1920s and 1930s. Artists including Gwen Raverat, Gertrude Hermes and Clare Leighton helped transform the medium, producing works that combined technical brilliance with fresh ways of seeing the world around them. 

Among the most celebrated was Clare Leighton (1898–1989), whose work features in our current exhibition, British Landscapes: A Sense of Place. Leighton studied at the Slade School of Fine Art before discovering wood engraving through evening classes with Noel Rooke at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. She quickly recognised the possibilities of the medium, later describing the excitement of carving lines into a block and watching them emerge as light in the printed image.

Leighton belonged to a generation of women whose lives were shaped by the aftermath of the First World War. Determined to make her living as an artist, she embraced wood engraving with remarkable energy and ambition. Over the course of her career she produced hundreds of engravings, wrote and illustrated numerous books, lectured internationally and established a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. 

What distinguishes Leighton’s work is her choice of subject matter. Rather than depicting the countryside as an idyllic retreat, she focused on the people whose labour shaped it. Farmers, shepherds, fishermen and agricultural workers populate her prints, engaged in the seasonal tasks that defined rural life. Works created for The Farmer’s Year (1933) celebrate activities such as ploughing, lambing, haymaking and harvesting, presenting physical labour with a dignity and monumentality more commonly associated with history painting. 

Her landscapes were rooted in close observation. Living in the Chiltern Hills, Leighton explored the surrounding countryside by bicycle, attending harvest festivals, agricultural shows and local fairs. The resulting engravings reveal a profound understanding of both place and people. In her hands, landscape became something more than scenery: it became a record of community and tradition. 

Leighton’s influence extended beyond her own work. Her success helped demonstrate what women artists could achieve through printmaking, inspiring younger generations of engravers and illustrators. Among them was Gwenda Morgan (1908–1991), one of the most accomplished yet under-recognised wood engravers of the 20th century. 

Born in Petworth, Morgan maintained a lifelong connection to the landscapes of West Sussex. After studying at Goldsmiths’ College and later under the engraver Iain Macnab at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art, she developed a distinctive visual language inspired by the South Downs, rural customs and the changing seasons. 

Morgan’s relationship with the countryside was not purely artistic. During the Second World War she served in the Women’s Land Army, working on farms around Petworth and undertaking everything from milking cows and harvesting crops to caring for livestock. These experiences deepened her understanding of agricultural life and informed the subjects she returned to throughout her career. 

Her engravings often depict village communities, farm workers, churches and winding downland paths. Rather than focusing on dramatic views, Morgan was interested in everyday encounters between people and landscape. Tiny figures walk across hillsides, gather harvests or move through woodland, emphasising the ways in which human lives are woven into the fabric of the countryside. 

Like Leighton, Morgan understood landscape as something lived rather than merely observed. Her engravings capture not only the appearance of Sussex, but also its rhythms, traditions and sense of belonging. They remind us that landscape is shaped as much by memory and experience as by geography. 

Today, the work of artists such as Clare Leighton and Gwenda Morgan offers a richer and more inclusive understanding of British landscape art. Through wood engraving, they found new opportunities to build professional careers, while creating images that expanded how the countryside could be represented. 

In British Landscapes: A Sense of Place, their prints reveal landscapes animated by work and seasonal change. Together, they demonstrate how women artists helped carve a distinctive place for themselves within the story of 20th-century British art.