1169 - Leon Underwood, Skittles at the Black Lion, colour linocut, signed, 1936

Leon Underwood, Skittles at the Black Lion, colour linocut, signed, 1936 (1890 London – 1975 London), colour linocut on paper, mounted on a support sheet, monogrammed and dated 'L. U. 36' in the block lower centre, signed 'Leon U' and dated 36 lower right, titled and numbered 2/25 below the image. A skittle alley scene in flatly opposed fields of colour: at the very top stands a black lion, below it several figures are staggered over the height of the picture: at the left edge several heads, between them surfaces in pink, blue and green; one figure is bowling. A yellow field with pale ovals denotes the alley with the skittles. The colours are set side by side unbroken and without modelling, the outlines drawn in black. Age-appropriate condition, rubbed, foxed, margins creased, upper left corner of the sheet with a small loss. Image 45.5 x 31 cm (HxW), overall size 61 x 48 cm (HxW) Leon Underwood was a sculptor, painter and printmaker and is regarded in England as one of the pioneers of modern sculpture; his pupils included Henry Moore and Gertrude Hermes. Underwood rejected abstraction and sought instead a heightened formal language fed by non-European art, which he deepened on travels to Mexico and West Africa. In the 1930s a series of colour linocuts appeared in editions of 25 impressions, in which he builds up everyday English scenes from extreme viewpoints. Depicted is the Black Lion in Hammersmith, only a short walk from Underwood's house, studio and drawing school in Girdlers Road at Brook Green. The historic skittle alley of the house was a stronghold of London skittles; among its best-known players was the writer and Member of Parliament A. P. Herbert, who presided over the Black Lion Club and made the game known through his novel „The Water Gypsies“. Herbert and his wife moved in a large circle of artists to which Underwood also belonged.