Alien, work by Aleksandra Stefanovic

Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut. A sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used as the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a brayer), and then impressed onto paper. The ink covers only the raised (non-carved) area, while carved surfaces stay dry. Carved surfaces will come out as white (or whatever color the printing paper is), while raised areas will be printed in the color of the ink (black, for example).

The linocut was invented by the artists of Die Brücke [the Bridge] in Germany between 1905 and 1913. Die Brücke was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905, after whom the Brücke Museum in Berlin was named.² Die Brücke aimed to avoid the prevalent traditional academic style and find a new mode of artistic expression, which would form a bridge (hence the name) between the past and the present. As part of the affirmation of their national heritage, they revived older media, particularly woodcut prints. The group developed a common style based on vivid color, emotional tension, violent imagery, and an influence from primitivism.

References:

¹ http://www.wikipedia.org

² http://www.bruecke-museum.de/englbleyl.htm