Sybil Andrews [Canadian, 1898-1992] Manoir De Formeville, Lisieux Etching with Drypoint

Sybil Andrews [Canadian, 1898-1992] CSPEE

Sybil Andrews was born in Bury St. Edmunds, England in 1898. She was trained in the modernist style at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. She became part of a group of artists who worked in the lino-cut print medium and who embraced a modern expressionist style.

The linocut print was a new medium, having first been used in 1912. This group of print makers, led by Claude Flight, were considered to be avant-garde and experienced some antagonism from the traditional art establishment. Andrews favored subjects which were ordinary in and of themselves, portraying them in a dynamic expressionist style. She immigrated to Canada with her husband in 1947, settling in Campbell River. She continued to work steadily on her linocut prints, while teaching weekly art classes.

Recognition of her work came shortly after her arrival in 1948 with a one-person exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Her work is represented in such prestigious public collections as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, the National Gallery of New Zealand and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Richard Calver was mentored by and exhibited with Sybil Andrews in the last ten years of her life. Calver continues to advocate the linocut print and has taken it to new levels.