Artwork by Sybil Andrews,  Sails

Sybil Andrews
Sails

colour linocut
signed (twice), titled “Sail” and inscribed “T.P.” (twice) lower left
8 x 9 ins ( 20.3 x 22.9 cms )

Auction Estimate: $20,000.00$15,000.00 - $20,000.00

Price Realized $14,000.00
Sale date: November 28th 2014

Provenance:
A gift from the artist to Richard Calver, British Columbia
Literature:
Peter White, “Sybil Andrews: colour linocuts/ linogravures en couleur”, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, 1982, page 22, illustrated page 63, figure 55
Sybil Andrews' linocuts often shifted between representational and abstract. In “Sails”, the artist presents a myriad of shapes - the sharp blues, yellows and greens of the sails revealing the artist's fascination with rhythm and movement. Andrews elevates the subject from the ordinary world of everyday life through her masterful arrangement of form and colour, interpreting the theme with her dramatic and highly animated style.


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Sybil Andrews
(1898 - 1992)

Born in Suffolk in England, Andrews was trained in the modernist style at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. She became part of a group of artists who worked in the linocut print medium and embraced a modern expressionist style. The linocut print was a new medium having first been used in 1912. This group of printmakers, led by Claude Flight, were considered to be avant garde and experienced some antagonism from the traditional art establishment. Andrews favoured subjects which were ordinary in and of themselves, portraying them in a dynamic expressionist style.

Andrews immigrated to Canada with her husband in 1947, settling in Campbell River. A painter and printmaker she was influenced by 5th and 6th Century artists of Greece, Chinese carvers of the Han Dynasty and medieval art of Britain and Europe generally. She continued to work steadily on her linocut prints while teaching weekly art classes. Recognition of her work came shortly after her arrival in 1948 with a solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Glenbow Museum, Canada, is a major centre for the study of her work with a collection of over 1000 examples of Andrews' works, including all of her famous colour linocuts and the original linoleum blocks, paintings in oil and watercolour, drawings, drypoint etchings, sketchbooks, and personal papers.

Her work is also represented in such prestigious public collections as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England; the National Gallery of New Zealand; and the Art Gallery of Ontario.