GROSVENOR SCHOOL LINOCUTS

The Grosvenor School of Modern Art was opened in London in 1925. Here Claude Flight lectured on the art of linocutting; Cyril Power on architecture; the young Sybil Andrews was the School Secretary and Lill Tschudi was a student from Switzerland. All attended Flight’s informal classes on his method of linocutting. So too did three Antipodeans; Ethel Spowers, Dorrit Black and Eveline Syme. Spowers in particular was influential in promoting the Grosvenor School in Australia by organising exhibitions.

What is a linocut? Linoleum is a mixture of linseed and cork that is laid down on a canvas backing sheet which provides a tough yet pliable surface; it is commonly used for flooring.

As a medium for printmaking it was first used in the early 20th century by the German Expressionist artists Heckel, Rohlfs and Munter and by members of the Russian Constructivist movement such as Kandinsky and Rodchenko. In England the linocut was used by the French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and his close friend Horace Brodzky.

Claude Flight’s innovation was to encourage his students to use different blocks for each colour. A design was first drawn onto a grease-proof paper, the lino block was oiled and the design then adhered onto it. The design was then traced and under pressure from a pointed instrument indented onto the block which gave the artist the outline that was then cut away. The second or third blocks with the additional designs were worked on in the same way then each block was cleaned and inked with one colour, the thin oriental paper laid on the block and the colour transferred by gentle pressure using the back of a spoon or a ‘baren’ – a sort of circular leather pad.

Thus the coloured linocut was transferred to the paper and with the over-layering of colours from the multiple blocks the vibrancy of colour was achieved. Flight also promoted the use of a delicate oriental paper, the reason being that the inks would not be absorbed into the paper but dry on the surface.

Flight was the most vigorous promoter of these prints and he finally succeeded in mounting the First Exhibition of British Linocuts in 1929. It was declared an outstanding success and prints were purchased by key collections including the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The linocuts of the Grosvenor School enjoyed a brilliant but all too brief popularity. By the mid-1930s interest waned and Flight arranged his final exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 1939. By this time many of the artists had gone their separate ways and returned to their respective countries.

It was not until the 1970s that these colourful and vibrant ‘modern’ prints’ were rediscovered by a series of exhibitions at the Michael Parkin Gallery in London. In the 1980s Gordon Samuel organised the largest ever show of linocuts with over 120 prints and included some of the lesser known names such as Leonard Beaumont, Edith Lawrence and Ronald Grierson. The exhibition was a resounding commercial success as serious print collectors from Europe and America came to appreciate the technical brilliance and historical importance of these works. His promotion continued with an exhibition at the Works on Paper Fairs in New York followed by the IFPDA (International Fine Print Dealers Association) Fair also in New York, opening up a new market and audience in the USA.

The demand for the linocuts has grown and grown and all the major artists of the Grosvenor School now have a worldwide reputation with their work in major public museums on all continents including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Australia and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary to mention a few. Following in the footsteps of Futurism, they capture the spirit of their time, immortalising the rapidly changing world of the 1920s and 1930s.

Osborne Samuel is the premier gallery dealing in and exhibiting these important prints and have an ever-changing stock which we show in the gallery and at all the major fairs, including The London Original Print Fair, (April) Masterpiece, London, (June), 20/21 British Art (September) and the IFPDA Print Fair, New York (November).

Please click on the following links which will take you directly to the page for each artist:

Sybil Andrews

Claude Flight

Lill Tschudi

Cyril Power

Ronald Grierson

Sybil Andrews, Gypsies
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Cyril Power, Acrobats
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Lill Tschudi, Village Fair II
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Cyril Power, The Eight
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Cyril Power, Skaters
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