1881 -1955 · British linocut and modern rhythm

Machines, rides, crowds and speed become rhythms of pure color for Claude Flight, making linocutting a modern, accessible and deeply dynamic art.

Born in London in 1881, Walter Claude Flight worked in several professions before devoting himself to art. He studied at the Heatherley School of Fine Art before and after the First World War, then discovered linocutting around 1919. This economical material, easy to cut and print, corresponds to his ideal of an art accessible to the greatest number. Influenced by futurism, cubism and vorticism, Flight reduced shapes and superimposed plates of bold colors to capture the speed of a bus, the swing of a carousel, dance or the movement of waves. From 1926, he taught linocut at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. international exhibitions that he organized from 1929 to 1937 widely disseminated the technique. Among his students were Cyril Power, Sybil Andrews, Lill Tschudi and Dorrit Black. With his partner Edith Lawrence, Flight defended until his death in 1955 a democratic and rhythmic vision of modern art. Until his death in 1955, the "Claude Flight" selection notably compared Bateaux-balançoires. His reading favors color.

Flight does not only represent a movement: it seeks its essential rhythm, then reconstructs it through curve, diagonal and color.