This Cyril Power (1872-1951) linocut, Speed Trial, right, included in Bonhams’ (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) March 31 prints sale in Knightsbridge, had been in the same collection since the 1930s and retained its original Redfern Gallery mount with a contemporary label on the verso.
One of the most celebrated images produced by the Grosvenor School, inspired by Donald Campbell’s Bluebird, the c.1932, 8 by 143/4in (20 x 38cm) print was fully signed, titled and numbered out from the edition of 50 and though offered unframed was in superbly preserved condition.
“This was the first time I’d seen one of these prints in their original mounts,” said expert in charge, Robert Kennan, and this seemed to be the key reason it attracted a quadruple-estimate £8500 from a US collector, underbid by a UK private. The price appears to be a new auction record for this particular print.
Power’s Speed sets new record
Dismissed by some as the equivalent of Clarice Cliff, the brilliantly coloured, Vorticist-influenced linocuts produced by the Grosvenor School during the inter-war years continue to be the most hotly contested commodity at UK print auctions, particularly when they emerge from long-established private collections.
