Hyde Park

Artist Sybil Andrews (British, 1898 - 1992)

Date1931; printed 1981

MediumColor linocut from 5 blocks (orange chrome, emerald green, cobalt blue, viridian [oil paint], and Chinese blue [oil paint])

DimensionsImage: 13 3/8 x 6 1/8 in. (34 x 15.5 cm)

Credit LinePurchased with funds provided by the Print Society

CultureBritish

Inscribedl.l. margin: Hyde Park / 15/60; l.r. in image: Hyde Park, 15/60 / Sybil Andrews

Catalogue raisonnéCoppel SA16; Leaper 18

Object numberPC2016.15.01

ClassificationsPrint Collection

DescriptionA tight, vertical composition of a crowd in Hyde Park. The mass of people is represented as swirling, abstract figures, blank faces and hats hanging above their twirling bodies. The overall effect is of a crowded but bustling space, full of movement amongst the park's greenery.
Interpretations The linocut process (pioneered by Claude Flight (1881-1955) and his followers) employed no detail block. Instead, three or four separate color blocks were printed and artists could create additional colors by overlaying inks, one on top of the other. Although forms were simplified, the composition had to be carefully planned so that each block, and color, would fit together harmoniously. According to Sybil Andrews, one of the foremost artists to theorize and develop the Grosvenor School style of color linocut, the process had a way of laying bare the essentials of concept and design: “The technique being simple, the whole emphasis is left on the idea,” she wrote. “Of necessity the student learns simplification, learns to eliminate non-essentials to learn that great lesson of balance. Balance of masses, shapes, rhythms, spaces, tones and color not to be learned in a plain black and white print.” Andrews had only printed 8 of the 60-print edition when the blocks melted in 1947. She re-cut the blocks in 1981, and finished printing the full edition. This impression is from that set, though is still considered to be a part of the original run. -Erin Maynes, Hoehn Curatorial Fellow for Prints (2014 - 2017)

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