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Lot 3623 - A183 Prints & Multiples - Saturday, 09. December 2017, 10.30 AM

LILL TSCHUDI

(1911 Schwanden 2004)
Autorennen. 1930.
Colour linocut. 5/30. Signed lower right in pencil: Lill Tschudi, as well as titled: Autorennen. Image 14 x 17,5 cm on pergamin 16 x 19 cm.

Provenance: Private collection Switzerland.

Literature: Coppel, Stephen: Linocuts of the Machine Age, Claude Flight and the Grosvenors School, Aldershot 1995, LT 1.

Lill Tschudi is a famous exponent of the art of the linocut, who, in the circle of the Grosvenor School of Art under Claude Flight, made a significant contribution to the understanding and recognition of this printing technique. Owing to its easily worked surface structure, the linocut, compared with the labour-intensive woodcut with its long tradition, was initially seen as a lower form of artistic expression. However, the pioneer Claude Flight and his pupils at the Grosvenor School of Art, which Lill Tschudi joined in 1929, discovered the great range of possibilities within this medium.

With the use of complex layers of colour, they created modern designs, which reflected the changed spirit of industrialised society. Acceleration, the fast pace of life and anonymity are popular themes in this loosely configured artist group and are again reflected in Lill Tschudi’s oeuvre.

The work “Autorennen” presented here at auction, is one of many typical examples of the artist’s examination of the themes of dynamics and sport, which also harbours futuristic tendencies.
The Cubist-inspired sheet “Sunday" (Lot 3622), on the other hand, shows the chill of a gradually alienated body of people, which probably emerges from the tradition of community Sunday church-going, where the empty faces melt into an impersonal mass.

The forgiving nature of linoleum allows the creation of flowing lines, which in woodcut is much harder because of the fibres and grain of the wood. The colour lino cut “Ich weiß nicht was soll das bedeuten” (Lot 3621) is a fine example of such curved sinuous lines, where the formal qualities reinforce the theme of temptation.

Lill Tschudi’s artistic career took her from the Grosvenor School of Art to Paris, where, in the circles of André Lothe, Gino Severini and Fernand Léger, she further developed her linocut technique.
In 1935 the Swiss-born artist returned to her native country and from then onwards lived with the family of her sister Ida Tschudi-Schümperlin, who was also active as an artist. Despite her return to Switzerland, Lill Tschudi continued her lively exchange with her international artist colleagues and was included by Claude Flight in the exhibition “British Lino-Cut” and the ground-breaking publication “The Art and Craft of Lino Cutting and Printing”. Lill Tschudi’s impressive body of work comprises 355 prints, for which in 1986 she received the Swiss national prize for printing. Her works were included in large scale exhibitions, with venues including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.


CHF 1 200 / 1 600 | (€ 1 240 / 1 650)

Sold for CHF 4 500 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.