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Sybil Andrews and the Grosvenor School Linocuts

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9 A former librarian, bee-keeper and military farrier, Flight was an immensely intriguing character, with vast ambitions for the future of linoleum cut colour printing. One pupil described him as: A small man with bright eyes, little bits of side-curls, and one feels instantly at ease with him. During the summer he lives in a cave in France, a very attractive cave, apparently, but still a cave; and in the winter he comes out of his cave to teach lino-cutting to students of the Grosvenor School. 6 In between teaching commitments, and producing a number of linocut illustrated picture books, Flight produced two handbooks on linocutting (Lino-Cuts: a handbook of linoleum-cut colour printing first published in 1927, and The Art and Craft of Lino Cutting and Printing, 1934) which give instructions on how to fashion home-made tools, and unveil his plans to create: A real and vital art of to-morrow, an art of the people for their homes… an art expressed in terms of unity, simplicity, and of harmony. 7 Flight's vision was to transform what he perceived as the alienated relationship between the general public and the arts into a rich and mutually beneficial connection. In Flight's scheme, people of average incomes would achieve aesthetic fulfilment through owning affordable prints, artists would benefit from regular sales, and the arts flourish through lending libraries, secondary education programmes, and exhibitions. The impact of these theories can be seen in both the style and choice of subject matter employed by his most successful students, whose works often focus on popular leisure pursuits, thereby reflecting the lives of their target audience. The triumvirate of works that have become most emblematic of the Grosvenor School artists – Flight's Brooklands (c.1929), Andrews' Speedway (1934) and Cyril Power's Speed Trial (1932) – capture the roar of the crowd and the excitement surrounding British motor racing in the interwar period. Works like Edith Lawrence's The Cricket Match (c.1929), Lil Tschudi's Just Off (1932), and Colin Wyatt's skiing prints Quersprung (c.1932) and The Race (c.1932) forged a new kind of art that looked to the shared experiences of ordinary people – whether as participants or spectators – and were designed to appeal to the mass market. Andrew Power collaboration Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power met in Bury St Edmunds, several years prior to the opening of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. Like Flight, Power was an older man with an already established career, who had served in the armed forces during the First World War. He moved 6. Dorrit Black, 'London Letter', Undergrowth, A Magazine of Youth and Ideals, Sydney Art School students magazine, January-February 1928. 7. Claude Flight, Lino-Cuts: a handbook of linoleum-cut colour printing (London: John Lane The Bodley Head Limited, 1927), p.11-12. Speed Trial, c.1932

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