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Lead book review

Bright, beautiful and deceptively simple: the art of the linocut

Charlotte Hobson describes the complicated relationship of two artists who championed simplicity

30 October 2021

9:00 AM

30 October 2021

9:00 AM

Sybil and Cyril: Cutting Through Time Jenny Uglow

Faber, pp.416, 20

In the 1920s the linocut broke out of the schoolroom and on to gallery walls. Here was a democratic new art form, perfect for the times with its lowly materials — a piece of old linoleum flooring for the block, while the best tools, according to the artist Claude Flight, were an old umbrella spoke for cutting and a toothbrush to rub the back of the paper.

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