Lill Tschudi (Swiss, 1911 – 2004)
Kiosk in Paris (Coppel LT 29)
9 x 10 inches (sight)
Linocut on tissue thin oriental laid paper, 1933
Signed and titled lower right
Annotated ‘Handdruck’ and numbered 1/50 upper left

Lill Tschudi (1911-2001) was a prominent figure in the Grosvenor School of Modern Art* and is known primarily for her colourful and lively linocut work. Her early work explored technological advancement and the dynamism of the modern world. She later focused on sporting themes as her subjects, and after 1945 her style shifted to abstraction.

Lill Tschudi was born in the village of Schwanden, high in the mountains of eastern Switzerland. The village is known for its textile heritage, and Tschudi briefly experimented with designs for textiles when she put certain of her images onto pillow and cushion cases. She is now known almost exclusively, however, for her colour linocut work.

Tschudi was first introduced to the linocut when she saw an exhibition of the colour cuts of animals by Norbertine Bresslern-Roth (1891-1978) whilst still at school. After school she noticed an advertisement in The Studio inviting applications for a training programme specialising in linocuts at The Grosvenor School of Art, London.

Lill Tschudi attended The Grosvenor School briefly, from 1929-30, but throughout her life she maintained a close working relationship with the Grosvenor School linocut* tutor Claude Flight. He encouraged her, supporting her career and acting as a point of liaison in England whilst she worked abroad.

Her early work clearly demonstrates his influence. Flight was inspired by the concerns of the Italian Futurists* and by Vorticism*. He encouraged the depiction of a modern man-made world full of technological advancement. Tschudi explored this subject matter in her famous linocuts of motor-car racing and the London Underground.

From 1931-33, Tschudi lived in Paris and studied with the Cubist artist Andre Lhote, then with the Futurist Gino Severini at the Academie Ronson, and finally under Fernand Lger at the Academie Moderne.

Whilst in Paris she focused on the life of the city; young browsers at a news-and-print stand; bill posters; and for several of her most captivating prints, jazz music. Later on she took sporting themes as her subjects; circus tumblers, gymnasts, cyclists, runners and, like Sybil Andrews, she often depicted men at work.

Tschudi returned to Schwanden, Switzerland in 1935, but she continued to produce linocuts. Over her lifetime Tschudi produced 355 linocuts. She sent work to London regularly and received high critical acclaim. One London critic wrote: she seems to seize activity on the wing, and fix it in her linocuts.

Purchases soon followed from, amongst others, the Vand A and the British Museum. Her work is now held in major print collections around the world and was featured extensively in the (2008) exhibition British Prints from the Machine Age – Rhythms of Modern Life 1914-1939 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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