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4. Air Raid by Cyril Power, linocut

Air Raid by Cyril Power, linocut

Object details

Cyril Power created this linocut print of a biplane ‘dog fight’ as a reflection on his service in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Power supervised aircraft repairs at Lympne aerodrome, Kent where he developed the print in four lino-block colour separations of red, light blue, grey and dark blue from a wartime sketch.

Formerly an architect, after his service Power retrained as an artist at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art (alongside Sybil Andrews) where his tutor Claude Flight led a modernist movement in linocut printing. Vorticism and Futurism were influential to the group’s celebration of speed in the machine age. Impressions of Air Raid were first sold at the Redfern Gallery in the exhibition ‘Colour Prints’ (25 June to 18 July 1936, cat. no. 15). Although inscribed as number ‘4’ of an edition of ‘60’, few impressions of the print are known to exist today.

This artwork was acquired by the inaugural director, John Tanner, in the mid 70s. The print now hangs in the Exhibition ‘To the Stars: Illuminating the Art Collection in 50 Works’ in London. You can visit this exhibition during Museum opening hours for free. This artefact was chosen for our 50th Birthday by our Art Curator, Julia Beaumont-Jones.