Estimate: $60,000 - $100,000
Auction: May 8, 2019 1:00:00 PM EDT
1934, pencil signed and titled, numbered 22/60 (there were also 5 trial proofs), with margins. Color linocut on tissue-thin laid Japan.
image: 12 13/16 x 9 1/8 in. (32.5 x 23.2cm)
sheet: 15 1/8 x 10 3/8 in. (38.4 x 26.4cm)
[Coppel, SA 29]
Provenance: David & Ruth Robinson Eisenberg, Lakewood, New Jersey.
By family descent.
Howard Eisenberg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
With sweeping angular lines and sharply contrasting blocks of color, Sybil Andrews' "Speedway," in both subject and execution is an iconic example of the Grosvenor school's innovative printmaking of the 1930's. Led by instructor Claude Flight, artists of the school sought to convey the ever-increasing speed and mechanization of all things in the new modern era. The artists worked primarily with linoleum cuts; prints which were characterized by clean color, contrast and sweeping line, and were devoid of organic nuance.
Indeed, "Speedway" depicts a decidedly fast-paced innovation of the 1930's: motorbike track racing, which swept into popularity in 1930's England. Here, three identical forms race in a neat arc from the upper right to the lower left of the composition. The riders are reduced to three identical, highly stylized forms with goggles, reflective helmets and angled, simplified limbs that are one with their motorbikes. Dirt kicked up by the weighty wheels is implied by arcs of sharp, thin lines of color that echo the speed and visual rhythm of the overall composition. Andrews used just four distinct colors in "Speedway" --- raw sienna, venetian red, permanent blue, and Chinese blue.
Colors here, like speed and automation, are pure, and design is tantamount. Sybil Andrews, who initially worked as an employee of the school to pay for her courses, was ultimately seen as one of the most innovative artists of the Grosvenor school. The present work, which was originally conceived as a poster commission for the London Passenger Transport Board in the 1930's, is often pointed to as the most iconic image of the era, and was even selected as the cover for the Stephen Coppel, Linocuts of the Machine Age.