The Eight, 1930
Linocut
Linocut printed with 4 blocks: chrome orange; permanent blue; pale chrome; Chinese blue on buff oriental laid tissue. Edition of 50
Signed, titled and numbered within the image

The Eight is considered one of Power’s masterpieces in the medium of linocut. His studio that he shared with Sybil Andrews was at Brook Green, Hammersmith by the river Thames and shows the eight rowers seen from above as they emerge from under the bridge as they pull on the oars to propel the boat forward, the yellow and orange curving shapes and patterns emphasising the waves of water and energy spent in motion.

Power’s work and those of his colleagues at the Grosvenor School was largely forgotten and ignored as serious works of art from the latter 1930s until a re-emergence of interest and a rediscovery during the mid 1970s of these dynamic works unequalled in printmaking in Britain or indeed anywhere in the world. Their colour, immediacy and dynamism have made them sought after by collectors and museums internationally. The Museum of Modern Art in New York in recent years added The Eight to their collection and Power’s linocuts along with his Grosvenor School colleagues have toured the USA in 2008/09 with exhibitions in the Museum of Fine Art Boston, the Metropolitan Museum, New York and the Wolfsonian in Miami, Florida.
32.3 x 23.4 cm (12¾ x 9¼ inches)

Exhibition History:
Modernity: British Colour linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, 21 November - 16 January 20000

Modern Britain 1900-1960, Masterworks for Australian and New Zealand Collections, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, 15 November 2007 - 24 February 2008 (illus p101)

Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 30 January - 1 June 2008; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 23 September - 7 December 2008; Wolfsonian-Florida International University 29 November 2009 - 28 February 2010, Cat No 63, (illus p121)

Literature:
Linocuts of the Machine Age - Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Stephen Coppel, published by Linocuts of the Machine Age - Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Stephen Coppel, published by Scolar Press in association with the National Gallery of Australia, 1995,
Cat No CEP 18

Cyril Power Linocuts: A Complete Catalogue, Philip Vann, foreword by Gordon Samuel, published by Lund Humphries Publishers, London and Osborne Samuel, London, Cat No 18
POA