By: William Wolff

Medium: color woodcut
Year: 1990
ImageSize: 30.25 x 21 inches

Wolff’s woodcut of the mythological figure of Prometheus is carved and printed in only two strong colors—black and a fiery red-orange—yet the impact is monumental. These carved textures suggest both musculature and an almost volcanic inner energy.

One extended arm arcs overhead, holding what seems to be a wisp of fire rendered as a curling flame. The figure’s sheer weight and thrusting motion convey determination and burden, as though Wolff has captured the mythological titan in the act of carrying fire away from the gods.

Rather than naturalism, Wolff uses simplification and exaggeration—a hallmark of his printmaking—to give Prometheus a raw, archetypal power.

In the collection of the Oakland Museum of California Art