Paris Omnibus

Claude Flight

1923 · Linocut · Drawings and Prints

Flight spent a great deal of time in France—he made art and taught classes at his cave outside of Paris every year—and was very knowledgeable about avant-garde movements. In this image, he depicted the rear of a Parisian bus as it drives out of the frame. On the other side of the composition, two figures, likely recently disembarked passengers, walk behind the bus in the opposite direction. The geometric reduction and fragmentation of forms, as well as the repetition of colors, speak to the influence of Analytic Cubism, while the emphasis on speed and the dynamic lines show the impact of Futurism. Flight praised the linocut as allowing artists to carve curved, fluid lines more easily and apply flat planes of color without unintended textural effects.

Artist

Claude Flight

Date

1923

Medium

Linocut

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