David Blackwood, a Canadian artist, was a specialist in depicting coastal village life in Newfoundland. He combined exquisite storytelling with a mastery of the demanding techniques of copper plate printmaking. The result is a unique and unmistakable approach that is emotionally and visually unforgettable.
Blackwood, 1976, provides an insightful look into the unflinching storytelling and technical expertise of David Blackwood. Reviewing this documentary felt particularly timely as the Art Gallery of Ontario is presenting a major Blackwood exhibition from October 2025 to July 2026.
The achievement of the film is its illustration of the roots of Blackwood’s storytelling – the harsh life of Newfoundlanders relying on the sea – especially for sealing – and the high toll it takes on those who rely on it, including family members. Many of his works show death, fires and funerals, always infusing dignity into the images of those who eke out a living, as well as their efforts to create families and communities in that challenging reality.
Memory and myth loom large in Blackwood’s visual language as many of his works illustrate stories and events from decades earlier that were told to him as a child. The film balances those images with cutaways to life at the time of filming in villages by the ocean. The scenes suggest that much of what Blackwood illustrated continues into the present as the economic model of living from the ocean in Newfoundland remains precarious, which is why governments forced the removal of people from many of these villages in the 1960s and 1970s.
The documentary takes on the difficult task of making Blackwood’s painstaking printmaking process understandable to a general audience, a process unforgiving of error. Add to that the acid baths, heating the plates to just the right temperature to melt products onto them and the evolving colours and detail of the images over multiple iterations as he drew more into the plate – and you have a daunting challenge requiring master skills.
The documentary leaves several crucial questions unexplored. First is how he grew into his visual storytelling approach. Why did he choose to use the memories and myths of his home and youth, even though he studied art far away in Toronto? What was it about the stories he depicted that fascinated him? Why did he select printmaking as his signature technique? It is not one of the first ones taught in any curriculum and yet he mastered it and made it his own.
David Blackwood embraced storytelling from a local, off the beaten path part of Canada and the world. The stories he depicted were frequently sombre and foreboding, few are light. Further, he chose a practice that is technically demanding and that relatively few artists select as their principal one. In his case, it was his only practice. He drew, but that was at the service of his printmaking. On the strength of his selected subject matter and technique, he built a body of work that is unmistakeable and haunting, an achievement of his single-minded drive and skills. Given David Blackwood was a good interview subject in the documentary, I believe he could have explained the origins of his art, which would have added further, welcome depth to the story being told.
Blackwood, 1976, provides an insightful look into the unflinching storytelling and technical expertise of David Blackwood. Reviewing this documentary felt particularly timely as the Art Gallery of Ontario is presenting a major Blackwood exhibition from October 2025 to July 2026.
The achievement of the film is its illustration of the roots of Blackwood’s storytelling – the harsh life of Newfoundlanders relying on the sea – especially for sealing – and the high toll it takes on those who rely on it, including family members. Many of his works show death, fires and funerals, always infusing dignity into the images of those who eke out a living, as well as their efforts to create families and communities in that challenging reality.
Memory and myth loom large in Blackwood’s visual language as many of his works illustrate stories and events from decades earlier that were told to him as a child. The film balances those images with cutaways to life at the time of filming in villages by the ocean. The scenes suggest that much of what Blackwood illustrated continues into the present as the economic model of living from the ocean in Newfoundland remains precarious, which is why governments forced the removal of people from many of these villages in the 1960s and 1970s.
The documentary takes on the difficult task of making Blackwood’s painstaking printmaking process understandable to a general audience, a process unforgiving of error. Add to that the acid baths, heating the plates to just the right temperature to melt products onto them and the evolving colours and detail of the images over multiple iterations as he drew more into the plate – and you have a daunting challenge requiring master skills.
The documentary leaves several crucial questions unexplored. First is how he grew into his visual storytelling approach. Why did he choose to use the memories and myths of his home and youth, even though he studied art far away in Toronto? What was it about the stories he depicted that fascinated him? Why did he select printmaking as his signature technique? It is not one of the first ones taught in any curriculum and yet he mastered it and made it his own.
David Blackwood embraced storytelling from a local, off the beaten path part of Canada and the world. The stories he depicted were frequently sombre and foreboding, few are light. Further, he chose a practice that is technically demanding and that relatively few artists select as their principal one. In his case, it was his only practice. He drew, but that was at the service of his printmaking. On the strength of his selected subject matter and technique, he built a body of work that is unmistakeable and haunting, an achievement of his single-minded drive and skills. Given David Blackwood was a good interview subject in the documentary, I believe he could have explained the origins of his art, which would have added further, welcome depth to the story being told.
RSS Feed