Tag: vintage print

Designer Desire: Lill Tschudi

Montage of Lill Tschudi linocuts

Lill Tschudi (1911-2004) was a 20th century Swiss-born linocut artist. Along with the likes of Sybil Andrews, Cyril Power and Claude Flight, she was a member of the influential London-based Grosvenor School.

She produced in excess of 300 different linocut designs during her illustrious career. Like the other Grosvenor members, her subject matter often included sport, transport and travel – conveying the speed and movement in that distinct style.

Her work has been included in many exhibitions worldwide; British Prints from
the Machine Age at MoMA (2019/20), Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking at The
Dulwich Picture Gallery (2019), The Cutting Edge of Modernity: An Exhibition of Grosvenor School Linocuts at the Osborne Samuel Gallery, London (2013), British Prints from the Machine Age: Rhythms of Modern Life, 1914–1939 at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston & MoMA (2008).

Prints of her work can be bought covering a range of budgets. Top dollar works come up for sale at auction houses such as Bonham’s and Christies with hammer prices from £2,000 to the tens of thousands. Pallant House and The Bookroom Art Press sell prints from £138.00. If that’s still too steep, there are prints listed on eBay for less than £20.00.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the work of Lill Tschudi and the other Grosvenor School alumni, there have been a few books & catalogues published on the subject; The Cutting Edge of Modernity: Linocuts of the Grosvenor School, Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking and British Prints from the Machine Age: Rhythms of Modern Life. Tschudi’s 1933 Ice Hockey print (shown in the montage above) is the cover artwork for Impressions of the 20th Century: Fine Art Prints from the V&A Collection.

Portrait of Lill Tschudicredit

Additional image credits:
Artsy

Designer Desire: Sadao Watanabe

Montage of Sadao Watanabe prints

Sadao Watanabe (1913-1996) was a Japanese printmaker. He specialised in biblical scenes produced in the mingei (民芸) aesthetic.

Watanabe was baptised into the Christian faith (on Christmas Day) at the age of seventeen. He presents Christian narratives in a Japanese setting. For example, his Last Supper artwork shows Jesus and his disciples wearing kimono and dining on sushi and sake.

I would most like to see them [his prints] hanging where people ordinarily gather, because Jesus brought the gospel for the people

He often used the traditional stencilling method known as Katazome to produce his prints which he learned during his time as an apprentice in a dyers’ workshop.

At first I used mainly black and white pigments, but I was deeply moved by the encouragement of my teachers and colleagues. However, try as I might, I was not able to use other colors successfully until suddenly one day yellow and red pigments took the Japanese paper. I felt as though a new door had opened.

His works have been exhibited all over the world; from the British Museum to MOMA in New York and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo to the Vatican Museum. There’s a travelling exhibition of his work (in the USA) that is due to be shown in Austin, Texas and Hilton Head, South Carolina in 2021.

Prints can be found on eBay and Etsy.

There are a few books and exhibition catalogues available given over to the works of Watanabe including Beauty Given by Grace: The Biblical Prints of Sadao Watanabe, Heeding the Voice of Heaven: Sadao Watanabe Biblical Stencil Prints and PRINTING THE WORD The Art of Watanabe Sadao, an Exhibition of Prints from the Collection of Anne H. H. Pyle. Search for them on Abe Books and Amazon.

Portrait of Sadao Watanabecredit

Additional image credits:
Bowden Collections | Lambs Quay Gallery

Designer Desire: Claude Flight

Montage of Claude Flight linocut designs

London-born Walter Claude Flight (1881-1955) was a pioneer in the linocut art discipline. Before becoming an artist, Flight trained as an engineer, became a librarian, kept bees and was a farmer.

His linocuts are full of colour and movement and illustrate the time’s preoccupation with speed, progress, modernism and the machine age.

Over his career, he produced over 60 limited-edition prints that, on the odd occasion, come up for sale at auction. Examples have sold at Sotherby’s for $20,000+ USD. Goldmark sell official reprints for £250.00. His work is in the permanent collections of the V&A, the British Museum and the National Gallery of Australia.

A couple of his books, namely Lino-cuts, Lino Cutting and Printing, Christmas and Other Feasts and Festivals and Animal, Vegetable or Mineral (shown in the montage above) all command huge prices on second-hand book seller websites.

From 1926, Claude Flight taught a linoleum cut class at the London Grosvenor School of Modern Art in Pimlico, London. His students included Sybil Andrews, Dorrit Black, Eileen Mayo, Cyril Power, Ethel Spowers, Eveline Symes, Lill Tschudi and his partner Edith Lawrence (whom he’d met a few years earlier). This talented lino cut collective became known as The Grosvenor School.

Portrait of Claude Flightcredit

Additional image credits:
Goldmark

Charity Vintage: Chiquita 50s kitsch print

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'Chiquita' vintage 50s kitsch print(ends 13 Mar, 2014 15:43:16 GMT)

We’d say that our taste in art is – well – tasteful. However, we have a soft spot for vintage 50s kitsch prints. We have a few of Vladimir Tretchikoff‘s prints – Lady from the Orient, Balinese Girl, The Chinese Girl, Miss Wong and Zulu Girl.

CLIC Sargent: Caring for Children with Cancer* is currently selling this 50s kitsch print entitled Chiquita. She’s a beautiful, either Spanish or Mexican, señorita with a flirtatious off-the-shoulder blouse and rose in her hair. We don’t know who she’s by, but she is in the style of other artists such as H. Walker, J H Lynch and John Strevens.

*CLIC Sargent is the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, and their families. They provide clinical, practical and emotional support to help them cope with cancer and get the most out of life. They are there from diagnosis onwards and aim to help the whole family deal with the impact of cancer and its treatment, life after treatment and, in some cases, bereavement.