Swing-Boats

Claude Flight

1921 · Color linoleum cut on Japanese paper · Drawings and Prints

Swing-Boats captures the velocity and dynamism that Flight and the Grosvenor School artists found in Futurism and sought to portray in their depictions of interwar modern life. Here, Flight captures the joy and exuberance of flying in a funfair ride using rhythmic curves, dynamic lines, and repeated geometric forms and patterns. A large swath of visible paper and the jagged reddish-brown of the vessel indicate its extraordinary speed, suggesting an ability to launch into the sky and defy earthly restrictions. Concentric lines reinforce the impression of movement. In the upper corner, riders are reduced to circular forms representing abstracted heads, torsos, arms, and other body parts. Their boat continues beyond the edge of the composition, a testament to the powerful momentum of the ride.

Artist

Claude Flight

Date

1921

Medium

Color linoleum cut 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