About the Artist

(1898-1992) "Sybil Andrews was a printmaker, painter, graphic artist and educator who was born in Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, England. She moved to London (England) in 1922. In 1947, she emigrated to Campbell River (Vancouver Island) British Columbia, Canada, where she worked, taught and lived for the rest of her life.

Her mediums were the colour linocut (1) (most famous), etching, posters, pastels, ink, watercolour, monoprint and oil. Her subjects were human activity (at work, sports, travel, etc.), figures, animals, genre, allegory, architecture and landscape. Her style was Art Deco, Futurism, Cubism and Vorticism (2). Her work is identified by a simple format, clean lines, distortion, vivid colours, drama and rhythm.

Andrews produced 76 linocuts in her life, of which 43 were made from 1929 to 1939, which is considered to be her best period. John Hassall's art correspondence course (1918) was the beginning of her formal art education. She went from there to Heatherley's School of Fine Art (London/1922) where she studied under Henry Massey and met artistic partner Cyril Power . At the same time, she studied independently with sculptor Henri Glicenstein who taught her drypoint etching and to draw from life. She also attended the Grosvenor School of Modern Art (1925). Iain McNab (1890-1967) was Principal and Claude Flight (3), an instructor who had a great influence on her choice of linocut as a primary medium. Some of his other students and her associates were Edith Lawrence (1890-1973), Lill Tschudi (1911-2001), Eileen Mayo and William Greengrass (1896-1970).

After emigrating to Canada she taught art continuously until a month before her death. She was elected a member of the Canadian Painters – Etchers Society (after 1976 the Print and Drawing Council of Canada) in 1951.

Some of the public collections are the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the Legion of Honor Museum (San Francisco), the Cleveland Museum of Art, the British Museum (London), the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (B.C.), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and many more. The Glenbow Museum in Calgary is a major centre for the study of her work with over 1000 examples including all of her famous colour linocuts, the original linoleum blocks, paintings in oil and watercolour, drawings, drypoint etchings, sketchbooks, and personal papers. The St. Edmundsbury Borough Council Heritage Service also has a very large collection housed at the Bury St Edmonds Art Gallery, Moyses Hall, Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk.

As a prominent artist her work is discussed in many magazine and newspaper articles. She is also listed in A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald; The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar; Who's Who in American Art 15th Edition (1982); in Falk's Who Was Who in American Art; and in the Encyclopedia of British Columbia” (2000),. Her work is also illustrated and discussed in By A Lady - Celebrating Three Centuries of Art by Canadian Women (1992) by Maria Tippett; in Prints, Posters & Photographs (1993), by Susan Theran; and in Art BC: Masterworks from British Columbia (2000), by Ian Thom. She also wrote the book Artist’s Kitchen (1985) published by R.K.Hudson." excerpted from www.AskArt.com