The New Cable

Sybil Andrews

1931 · Color linocut on Japanese paper · Drawings and Prints

In this linocut, a small group of men strain to maneuver a giant cable and the massive drum around which it is coiled. The jagged rows of teeth indicating layers of cable recall mechanized elements seen in earlier depictions of industrialization, yet Andrews’s image signifies more than technological and industrial power. The men’s contorted bodies laud the human toil, raw physicality, and teamwork that underpinned manufacturing as well as telegraphy, telephony, and other systems that marked the new age. With their angular forms, blank faces, and green-and-brown uniforms, these anonymous figures resemble interchangeable machine products. Made during a global depression when British unemployment soared, The New Cable depicts the connectivity, labor, and frequently overlooked, unglamorous actions that were essential to modern life.

Artist

Sybil Andrews

Date

1931

Medium

Color linocut on Japanese paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, Peco Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019