CPE
1898 - 1992
Canadian
Tillers of the Soil
linocut in 4 colours
signed, titled and editioned 60/60 and on verso dated 1934 on the exhibition label
10 1/2 x 13 1/2 in, 26.7 x 34.3 cm
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000 CAD
Sold for: $20,000
Preview at: Heffel Calgary – 888 4th Ave SW, Suite 609
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Calgary
LITERATURE
Peter White, Sybil Andrews, Glenbow Museum, 1982, reproduced pages 27 and 57
Lora S. Urbanelli, The Grosvenor School, British Linocuts Between the Wars, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1988, reproduced page 46
Stephen Coppel, Linocuts of the Machine Age, 1995, reproduced page 115, catalogue #SA31
Hana Leaper, Sybil Andrews Linocuts: A Complete Catalogue, Osborne Samuel Gallery, 2015, same image reproduced page 78
EXHIBITED
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Sybil Andrews: Color Linocuts, 1982, catalogue #31
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, The Grosvenor School: British Linocuts Between the Wars, January 22 - March 20, 1988, traveling in 1988 to the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, same image, catalogue #10
Sybil Andrews was part of the Grosvenor School in England, a group of artists working in linocut who were influenced by the exciting modernist movements of Futurism, Vorticism and Cubism. In the 1930s, harsh economic realities brought a new appreciation for the working class, both rural and urban, who emerged as a subject for art, and their energy and productivity was seen in a heroic light. Tillers of the Soil is from a group of linocuts in Andrews’s oeuvre that embodies this subject. Seen at a distance, the figure of the farmer is small, but his stance at the plough is self-assured as he controls the team of massive draft horses. Andrews emphasized their power through her unusual use of perspective, showing the horses looming over the top of the hill with the stylized furrows of the field plunging downward below them. A pervasive and dynamic sense of movement, strong colour, and the bright light of the open farmland make Tillers of the Soil a powerful image.
Stephen Coppel notes: from an edition 60 plus at least 2 TPs, 2 EPs and 4 AEPs. Early impressions on buff oriental laid tissue; later printings on thickish oriental paper. This is a fine impression on tickish oriental paper.
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