Exploring Gertsch’s photorealistic process from paintings to woodblock prints Published with Deichtorhallen Hamburg. For his photorealistic approach, Swiss artist Franz Gertsch (1930–2022) projected slides onto a large canvas, painting over the image to create a slightly mysterious replica. Later in his career, he took this process a step further by turning his photographic references into woodcuts, a painstaking task that produced breathtakingly lifelike results.