Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power were good friends who worked very closely together as linocut artists and even collaborated on several poster designs. These two companion works, although completed several years apart, relate to the Boat Race – an annual rowing competition between teams from Oxford and Cambridge universities. Power’s The Eight shows racers on the Thames by London’s Hammersmith Bridge, a quick walk from Cyril and Sybil’s studio at Brook Green. Arms stretched out and bodies coiled, the tension and power exerted by the rowers are conveyed in the bend of the oars and the unfurling yellow lines of the boat’s wake as it ploughs through the water. Andrews captures the end of the race when the rowboat is lifted out of the water, the cubist styled angular bodies of the rowers all lined up and rhythmically repeated down the length of the boat.

(One O'Clock Jump: British Linocuts from the Jazz Age, 7 December 2024 - 11 May 2025)