Cyril Power came to printmaking by an improbable route: he was forty-three years old and had spent two decades as a practising architect before he picked up a linocut tool. He had won the Sloane Medallion in 1900[1], taught at University College London and Goldsmiths, and built a respectable career in architectural education before the modernist currents of the 1920s redirected his energy entirely.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1872–1951, British[1]
- Works held in
- 1 museum
- Wikipedia
- View article
Biography
In 1925[1] he co-founded the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London, and it was there that he met Sybil Andrews. Their artistic partnership, based out of a shared studio in Hammersmith, produced some of the most kinetically charged British[1] prints of the interwar period. Power's linocuts took the dynamism of Futurism and filtered it through the cool precision of the relief print: the concentric arcs of "The Tube Station" (c. 1932) compress a crowd of commuters into a pattern of pure movement, the figures barely distinguishable from the tunnel geometry around them.
The Redfern Gallery showed Power and Andrews together in 1933[1], cementing their reputations. His subjects were drawn from the velocity of modern life: fairground rides, speedboats, racing cars, the Underground. The formal language was his own invention, built on stacked curves and tightly controlled colour separations that gave each print a near-mechanical energy.
In his final year he set aside the linocut and returned to oil painting, working from the Cornish coast around the Helford River. He died in 1951[1], leaving a body of prints that have since been recognised as a defining contribution to British[1] modernism.
Timeline
- 1872Born in 1872. He later became an architect and printmaker.
- 1900Won the Sloane Medallion.
- 1925Co-founded the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London.
- 1925Met Sybil Andrews at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. They formed an artistic partnership.
- 1932Created the linocut print "The Tube Station".
- 1933Exhibited with Sybil Andrews at the Redfern Gallery.
- 1951Died in 1951. He had returned to oil painting in his final year, working on the Cornish coast around the Helford River.
Notable Works
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Related Artists
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cyril Power known for?
Cyril Power is known for his linocuts, which captured the dynamism of Futurism through the precision of relief printmaking. His prints often depicted the velocity of modern life, such as fairground rides, speedboats, racing cars, and the Underground.Who was Cyril Power?
Cyril Power was an architect who became a printmaker at the age of forty-three. He taught architecture at University College London and Goldsmiths before co-founding the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London.What was Cyril Power's art style?
Cyril Power's art style took the dynamism of Futurism and filtered it through the cool precision of the relief print. His formal language was built on stacked curves and tightly controlled colour separations, giving each print a near-mechanical energy.How did Cyril Power die?
Cyril Power died in 1951[1] at the age of 79.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Cyril Power.
- [1] wikipedia Wikipedia: Cyril Power Used for: biography, birth dates, death dates, identifiers, movement attribution, nationality.
- [2] book guggenheim-carlandre00wald Used for: stylistic analysis.
- [3] book Post-impressionism : cross-currents in European painting Used for: biography.
- [4] book Post-impressionism : cross-currents in European painting Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-17. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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