Dancers – Two Versions
Ursula Fookes (1906-1991), Dancers, two linocuts, c. 1930, each signed in pencil, one impression also numbered (9/50). Only state. In very good condition, one impression trimmed to the image (with a fold or crease across the matrix), the other with about a half inch margin (two tiny loses in the lower margin).
Fine fresh impressions of these great rarities. Each printed on a very thin Japanese mulberry paper. Printed in green, sea green, red, brown, blue.
These prints are mirror images of each other. We initially thought these were from separate linocut plates, but after much examination realized that since the paper is so thin Ms. Fookes was able to turn one impression over, sign it on the verso side, and achieve a slightly (almost indiscernible) different, muted, effect (in addition to an entirely different direction).
Ursula Fookes was a member of the Grosvenor School, the early 20th Century British movement associated with Sybil Andrews, Claude Flight, and Cyril Power. Her linocuts were made in small editions, and only recently, as the work of Andrew et al has become sought after, has it been brought to the light of the marketplace. We have not encountered other impressions of this print.
Because of the unusual method Fookes employed to create these two impressions, they will be sold as a pair.
