Sylvia Melland

About Sylvia Melland

Sylvia Melland attended the Euston Road School in the 1930s and later joined the left-wing, anti-fascist group the Artists' International Association (A.I.A.). Although initially a painter, from the 1960s onwards she concentrated almost exclusively on printmaking and was elected to the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers.

Icarus [1964]
Etching and aquatint, 2/15, 35 x 51 cms
Donated by the artist 1992

At the centre of this print is a fallen figure representing the legendary Icarus, son of the Athenian craftsman Daedalus. In an attempt to escape captivity on Crete, Daedalus constructed pairs of wings which he and Icarus attached to their shoulders with wax. Icarus, however, ignored his father's warnings not to fly too high, whereupon the sun melted the wax, causing him to fall into the sea and drown.