Lot 27

This work is in very good condition. There is a very small pigment flaw in the red pigment in the lower right quarter of the work, pin head sized, and another centre right, inherent to the medium, the imperfection was likely made at the time of creation. The work is framed measuring 57 x 40cm. (LEONARD JOEL CONTACTLESS DELIVERY $88 within 20km of Melbourne premises)


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Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Private collection, Sydney

Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scolar Press, London, 1995, p. 79 (illustrated, another example)

Lill Tschudi, a young student from Switzerland, enrolled at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London at the age of eighteen. After seeing an exhibition by Austrian artist Norbertine Bresslern-Roth's of prints of animals, she focused her studies on the medium of relief printing.
This period between the two wars saw the establishment of many new ideas and artistic movements, including the introduction of linocut printing. Claude Flight, an innovative artist, gathered a large following among the artworld and his students, pioneering the linocut at the Grosvenor School (1926-1930). He encouraged his students to express their own ideas rather than looking at the Old Masters for inspiration. Inspired by the Italian Futurists and Vorticism, his distinctive style captured the speed and energy of the modern world using a newfound medium. Flight's encouragement and teachings offered his students the opportunity to take complete control of their creative practice, marking a new movement in art.
While Tschudi only studied there for six months, she quickly established her practice. She created mechanical-like subjects on her blocks, layered with recurring images to create a wave of movement throughout the paper. Heavily inspired by industrial scenes, construction sites, factories and public events, she depicted themes that were unfolding in front of her in everyday life. This subject matter was virtually untouched by female artists until this point, symbolising the progress of the 20th century and the developing modern age.
Street Decoration 1937 is a bustling scene of traffic entwined with flags and festive banners. This linocut is a memory of her travels to London in 1935 for an exhibition where she also encountered commemorations of the Silver Jubilee of King George IV. The use of two simple and patriotic colours, red and blue are cleverly overlapped to create movement and harmony. This overlapping technique was an optical effect Tschudi often used in her linocuts, drawing the viewers straight into the centre of the work as though they were a part of the scene unfolding. Tschudi used similar techniques in both Visiting Day 1937 and Village Fair II 1948, creating focal points using hospital cots and circus tents respectively, to drive the direction of the viewer's eye and maintain a sense of dynamism.
Lill Tschudi became one of the most recognised exponents of the infamous Grosvenor School, creating 355 linocuts in her lifetime. She left a striking impression of the vitality and spirit of life during the interwar years. These works are treasured in many public collections including the British Museum, National Gallery of Australia and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Lill Tschudi was also awarded a National Print Prize in Switzerland for her lifetime achievement for the arts.

Lucy Foster
Art Specialist


Other examples of this work is held in the Collection of the Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York

Related works:
Village Fair I (Kirchweih) 1929, linocut, Collection of the Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York

Village Fair 1934, gouache and graphite on paper, Private collection

Village Fair 1933, oil on board, Private collection