Cyril Edward Power (British, London 1872-1951) Whence & Whither? Linocut printed in Chinese orange, viridian, permanent blue and dark blue, c.1930, on buff oriental laid tissue, signed, titled and numbered 16/50 in pencil, with margins, 310 x 240mm (12 1/8 x 9 3/8in)(B)
Lot 49AR
Cyril Edward Power
(British, London 1872-1951)
Whence & Whither?
Sold for £97,250 (US$ 131,673) inc. premium

Lot Details
Cyril Edward Power (British, London 1872-1951)
Whence & Whither? (Coppel CEP 14)
Linocut printed in Chinese orange, viridian, permanent blue and dark blue, c.1930, on buff oriental laid tissue, signed, titled and numbered 16/50 in pencil, with margins, 310 x 240mm (12 1/8 x 9 3/8in)(B)

Footnotes

  • 'Whence & Whither?' exemplifies the Grosvenor School's preoccupation with the "urban experience in all its mechanized tumult and electrifying diversity". Derived from preparatory drawings of the escalators in Tottenham Court Road made in 1928, 'Whence & Whither?' depicts a sublimely choreographed descent into the underworld of the London Underground by a host of faceless commuters rendered anonymous by the monotony of the daily commute.

    Power's print notes appear in Andrews's Print Book I, 1929-1933, where the original title of this linocut is recorded as 'The Cascade'. As meticulously detailed in his notes, the colours of this impression are worked with varying pressure; densely in the main body of the linocut with lighter tones for the force fields beyond. Chinese orange should be "heavy in centre rail rather medium on figure[s]. light pressure & faint on roof. faint in left hand corner for steps". Viridian should be "Heavy to centre balustrade. light on figures except at top edge. Pale in roof". The permanent blue should be "Pale in roof & steps. Graduated in roof. Heavy in front & medium..at back & top. Palish in arms".

    Philip Vann, Cyril Power Linocuts: A Complete Catalogue (Farnham: Lund Humphries, 2008),14-6.
    Stephen Coppel, Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1995), 93.
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