Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939 at Museum of Fine Arts Boston on artrepublic.com
Exhibition running from Jan 30 2008
until Jun 01 2008
The dynamic synergy of modern man and machine as seen in artistic movements of early 20th century England is the focus of Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914–1939. It highlights the impact of Italian Futurism and French Cubism on British modernist printmaking from the beginning of World War I to the outbreak of World War II. Through a thematic examination of the works of 14 innovative artists, more than 100 boldly graphic prints are showcased. Approximately 70 of these works are drawn from the Johanna and Leslie Garfield Collection—a superb assemblage of modern British prints from the heroic days of early modernism to its later 1920s and ’30s adaptation to popular taste. Ten of these (nine prints and one drawing) are recent promised gifts from the Garfields to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Rhythms of Modern Life highlights the period between the outbreak of World War I and the beginning of World War II, a time of immense social and economic change in Europe stimulated by the technological advancements of the modern age. In this politically and culturally charged climate, the status quo was challenged and new ideologies explored. The arts reflected this change by celebrating newly born abstraction and embracing the accelerating, mechanized speed of modern life. Beginning with the outbreak of the First World War, the exhibition examines the bold, inventive works of British printmakers who were influenced in their war imagery by Italian Futurism. A rich variety of printmaking techniques is on view in the show, including woodcuts, drypoints, lithographs, and, above all, color linocuts. A special display in the exhibition highlights how linocuts were made. The newly popularized linocut technique was embraced in the 1920s and ’30s by artists of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art, whose materials and methods are represented by four original linocut blocks for Sybil Andrews’ print Speedway (1934), as well as instruction manuals and linocut tools. This exhibition is unusual in combining sober Futurist-derived images from World War I battlefields and radical pioneering abstract works with the later and more playful Art Deco-like color linocuts of the Grosvenor School artists,” said Ackley. “The world of these artists was a brave new, energized one in which the machine dominates and anonymous figures are swept up in regimented or syncopated movement, a world of jazzy animation in which velocity is irresistible as well as exhilarating. Organized according to themes that preoccupied these artists, the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are divided into sections: Vorticism and Abstraction, World War I, Speed and Movement, Urban Life/Urban Dynamism, Sport, Industry and Labor, Entertainment and Leisure, Natural Forces, and Linocut: History and Technique. OPENING HOURS: Sat - Tue: 10.00 - 16.45 Wed - Fri: 10.00 - 21.45 Image Captions: Image 1: The Merry-Go-Round, about 1920–1930, Cyril E. Power (English, 1872–1951) Color linocut, Johanna and Leslie Garfield Collection, Courtesy EB Power & Osborne Samuel Ltd, London. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Acrobats, about 1933 Cyril E. Power, English, 1872–1951, Color linocut, Image: 25.3 x 23.2 cm (9 15/16 x 9 1/8 in.), Johanna and Leslie Garfield Collection, Courtesy EB Power & Osborne Samuel Ltd, London, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Image 3: Banking at 4000 Feet, 1917 Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (English, 1889–1946) Lithograph, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of John T. Spaulding, 37.1265, © Courtsey of the Nevinson Estate \ Bridgeman Art Library, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston If you were interested in this article you may like to… |
