Linocuts of the machine age

The rise of the colour linocut during the 1920s and 1930s is one of the most remarkable episodes in British printmaking this century. By their bold colour and dynamic rhythms, these prints vividly evoke the speed and movement of the modern machine age first espoused by the Italian Futurists.

Claude Flight, who made the greatest contribution to the linocut movement, was an original and inspiring artist and teacher, who attracted many promising students to his classes at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. Among the most gifted of these were the English artists Cyril E. Power and Sybil Andrews, the Swiss artist Lill Tschudi and the Australians Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme.

Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, including letters, memoirs, photographs and critical appraisals in the press, Stephen Coppel provides a fascinating account of the work and lives of these seven artists. This book will introduce to a new audience the vitality and appeal of these prints, which, from the Second World War until quite recently, have been largely overlooked.

A key feature of the book is an extensive and fully illustrated catalogue raisonne which documents over 380 linocuts, arranged in chronological order by artist. The catalogue records their exhibition history and location and provides documentary and contextual notes on individual entries.