Sybil Andrews - Straphangers, 1929
"The linocut is different to the other printing mediums, it has no tradition of technique behind it, so that the student can go forward without thinking of what Bewick and Rembrandt did before, he can make his own tradition, and coming at a time like the present when new ideas and ideals are shaping themselves out of apparent chaos, he can do his share in building up a new and more vital art of tomorrow". Claude Flight 1934
William Edward Greengrass - Jazz Musicians, 1933
To Dulwich Picture Gallery once more, to see Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking, an excellent retrospective of the work of a group of dynamic printmakers based at the Grosvenor School who emerged between the inter war period and were dedicated to promoting and elevating the humble art of linocutting. We have explored their work in this blog before here, and here, but this has been the most comprehensive exhibition of their work as a group that I have encountered, and there were many examples of their wonderful linocuts included at Dulwich which I had never seen before. The exhibition is grouped into thematic subjects, and starts with the sway of contemporary art movements such as Cubism, Italian Futurism and Vorticisim, which proved to be highly influential in terms of stylistic traits for these printmakers in the machine age. The works below of Bomberg, Nash, Nevinson and Wadsworth are full of dynamic, lively (albeit more dour wartime subject matter and compositions).
The
Grosvenor School of Modern Art was founded in 1925 at Warwick Square in
Pimlico but wasn't structured like the other more formal art schools. Artist Claude Flight was an influential tutor at the school who dreamt of making art affordable to all households, to enlighten art appreciation in the masses, and to spur them to create art of their own with linocut lending libraries and exhibitions in cinemas as well established galleries. Sadly Flight's vision would never come to fruition as the 2 guinea asking price of the prints was about the average weekly wage at the time, and therefore out of reach financially to the majority of the workers they were aimed at.
Cyril Power - The Merry-Go-Round, c.1930
Flight taught his method of
linocutting using multiple lino blocks to represent each colour of the finished print. Although
these prints are now recognised as fairly complex and skilled, at the
time the medium of linocutting was thought only suitable as a medium to
introduce children to the art of printmaking. The flexibility and versatility of the linocut medium lends itself readily to the sense of speed, dynamism and action depicted in the jazz age of the prints of the Grosvenor School. The themes of leisure, music, work, travel and sport undertaken by the Grosvenor linocutters easily display this sense of movement in their depictions of the vitality of city life. Other key
members of the Grosvenor group and paid staff at the school were Cyril
Power and Sybil Andrews. The achievements of certain artists of the Grosvenor School easily rival the inventions and innovations of those of Picasso and Edward Bawden in the evolution of the linocut as a serious artistic printmaking medium.
Influences
Paul Nash - Void of War, 1918
Christopher Nevinson - Returning to the Trenches, 1916
David Bomberg - Russian Ballet, ca. 1914-19
Edward Wadsworth - Mytholmroyd, 1916
E McKnight Kauffer - Flight, 1917
Installation View of E McKnight Kauffer Daily Herald poster
Cyril Power - Air Raid, c.1935
Cyril Power - The Vortex, c.1931
Urban Living
Ethel Spowers - Special Edition, 1934
Ethel Spowers - Wet Afternoon, 1929-30
Sybil Andrews - Hyde Park, 1931
Lil Tschudi - Street Decorations, 1937
Sybil Andrews - Coffee Bar, 1952
A Pastoral Life
Dorrit Black - Corners of the Garden, ca.1934
Installation view
Sybil Andrews - The Windmill, 1933
Edith Lawrence - Canal Middleburg, c.1932
Eveline Syme - Outskirts of Siena, 193-31
Ethel Spowers - The Plough, 1928
William Edward Greengrass - Abbotsbury, 1934
At Work, At Play
Claude Flight - Boys Bathing, ca.1935
Cyril Power - 'Appy 'Ampstead, ca. 1933
Cyril Power - The Exam Room, ca. 1934
Claude Flight - Women Washing, ca.1925
Dorrit Black - Music, 1927-28
Leonard Beaumont - Nymphs Errant, 1934
Lil Tschudi - Trio, 1931
Lil Tschudi - In the Circus, 1932
Lil Tschudi - Fixing the Wires, 1932
Sybil Andrews - Sledgehammers, 1933
Sybil Andrews - Flower Girls, 1934
The Sporting Life
Cyril Power - Speed Trial, c.1932
Installation view
Claude Flight - Brooklands, 1929
Sybil Andrews - Speedway, 1934
Sybil Andrews - Racing, 1934
William Edward Greengrass - The First Five, 1933
Installation view
Sybil Andrews - Skaters, 1953
Lil Tschudi - Ice Hockey, 1933
Sybil Andrews - Football, 1937
Sybil Andrews - Bringing in the Boat, 1933
On The Move
Sybil Andrews - Rush Hour, 1930
Cyril Power sketchbook
Linocutting tools
Grosvenor School related publications on linocutting
Cyril Power - The Sunshine Roof, c.1934
Cyril Power - Lifts, c.1930
Cyril Power - The Tube Staircase, c.1929
Cyril Power - Whence and Wither?, c.1930
Cyril Power - Whence and Wither? preparatory drawings
Cyril Power - The Escalator, c.1930
Cyril Power - The Tube Station, c.1932
Cyril Power - The Tube Station colour separations installation view
Cyril Power - TubeTrain, c.1930
Andrew Power Posters
The
last section of the exhibition dealing with sporting subject matter
executed under the collaborative duo name of (Sybil) Andrew-Power (Cyril)
seemed particularly relevant with the recent sporting events of the
cricket world cup and Wimbledon tennis tournament having taken place in
the capital. Even though the artworks commissioned for London Transport
were executed under the pseudonym of Andrew Power one can just about
detect the individual characteristic style of each artist. This is
another engaging exhibition of quality artworks staged by Dulwich
Picture Gallery.
Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking
until 8th September
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Gallery Road
London
