Wood engraving, 1958. 258x193 mm; 10¼x7⅝ inches, full margins. Signed, titled and numbered 19/30 in pencil, lower margin. Published by Brown Drilling Company, Long Beach, California. Wien 318.
Landacre was commissioned by California-based Brown Drilling Company to create an advertisement for their services. Well-known for the publication of his book California Hills and Other Wood Engravings by Paul Landacre, Landacre's work was synonymous with the sweeping vistas of the West Coast. With this campaign, Brown Drilling Company aimed to extend the same romance of Landacre's landscapes into the image of their oil rigs. We see Landacre's thoughtful approach as he describes "Rig at Willows depicted the elemental forces embattling man's efforts to find and bring oil from the earth's interior."
