Concert Hall

Sybil Andrews

1929 · Color linocut · Drawings and Prints

Concert Hall, Andrews’s first editioned linocut, was based on sketches made of London’s Queen’s Hall, a premier venue for classical music due to its excellent acoustics. Andrews used a cool palette to depict the dramatic curves and nearly abstract shadows of the balconies. The tightly packed rows of people point to the venue’s notoriously cramped conditions. While the image and title might evoke exclusivity more than many of Andrews’s other works, the Queen’s Hall was known for hosting the Proms, a concert season with lower-priced tickets and a more relaxed experience that sought to make "high art" more accessible. Concert Hall also shows Andrews’s early interest in depicting architectural spaces, something she shared with her partner, Cyril Power. The Queen’s Hall was destroyed in the Blitz in 1941.

Artist

Sybil Andrews

Date

1929

Medium

Color linocut

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Edward Pearce Casey Fund, 1984