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Presentation: Framed
SN: 1366
Artist's Proof, woodcut, inscribed 9a and 13 on the reverse
29 x 23.5 cm.
Slightly foxed and tired at edges
In a glazed square section gilded oak frame with brown flat inner slip.

Provenance: acquired directly from Robert Lyon family, circa 1980; private collection.

Robert Lyon trained at the Royal College of Art in the early 1920's before going on to win a scholarship to the British School at Rome. For eight years from 1934 Lyon was tutor to the Ashington Group of spare-time Northumberland miner artists, one of the most remarkable of such groups to emerge in the inter-war years. This woodcut, which appears to have never been printed as an edition, is clearly inspired by Gertler's iconic Merry-Go-Round, 1916. The figures on the carousel are here replaced by miners, adding resonance to an already politicized image.

Thumbnail panels:

Robert Lyon 1894 - 1978

Artist, mural painter and teacher. Born in Liverpool, he studied art at the Royal College of Art and the British School at Rome, 1924. He became lecturer in fine art and master of painting at King's College, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1932. For eight years from 1934 Lyon was tutor to the Ashington Group of spare-time Northumberland miner artists, one of the most remarkable of such groups to emerge in the inter-war years. From 1942-6o Lyon was principal of Edinburgh College of Art. He exhibited RA, RBA, RP and in the provinces. Also painted murals for Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, and King's College Hospital dental department. Lived at Rushlake Green, Sussex.