Millicent Krouse, Reclining Woman

The simple, elegant composition of Reclining Woman demonstrates the wonderful textural qualities and sense of immediacy possible with a woodcut print. A rough, ragged line delineates the contour of her figure. The graceful bareness of her back is contrasted with a pattern of dense lines in her hair, decorative fabric and the overall surface quality on which she lies. The primarily black and cream composition is accented by a line of magenta, which emphasizes the horizontality of the pose.

Woodcuts are relief prints in which the image is drawn on a surface of a wooden block. The areas intended to be blank are then cut away, leaving the raised image that is to be printed.

Krouse was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After graduating, she attended a woodblock printing course offered by Morris Blackburn, where she "fell in love with printmaking” and quit painting altogether. She created woodblock prints exclusively for the next 25 years. She often worked on a large scale and depicted flowers, leaves, animals, and birds. A desire to use more color led her back to painting, primarily in watercolor.

Krouse's works are in many public collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Free Library of Philadelphia, Montclair Museum of Art, the Reading Public Museum and Gallery, and Woodmere Art Museum.