Abram Games Archives - Page 2 of 9

Who knew?

archives

Today’s news is that I did something to something yesterday and discovered a whole new online archive. For a collection that I had no idea even existed in real life.

It turns out that the British Council owns a socking great heap of posters. Made up of things like this McKnight Kauffer.

And this Purvis.

And even this anonymous psychedelic gem.

These – and the many hundreds of others which go with them – come from the Alan Mabey archive, whose story is told on the British Council’s website as follows.

Mrs Phyllis Mabey donated this collection of over 300 posters to the British Council in August 1977. At the time she wrote “I should be very glad to hand the collection to The British Council as a gift, as I feel sure that it could not be in better hands, and it will be kept as a collection and not broken up.I wish that the collection be preserved as an entity and that it should be known as the Alan Mabey Collection.

I’ve tried to Google Mr and Mrs Mabey without finding anything out at all, least of all why they failed to give the whole lot to me. But I can tell you one or two things about Alan Mabey just from looking at the archive.

The first is that he liked McKnight Kauffer very much indeed, because he must have owned pretty much every poster that Kauffer ever produced. At leas that’s what it looked like.

There are acres of Kauffer’s designs for London Transport on the site, which I won’t bother illustrating because you’ve almost certainly seen them before. But Alan Mabey also picked up some other designs of Kauffers which don’t come up anything like as often. These two are new to me.

I think more modern advertising should be along these lines.

The archive would be worth your time simply for these, but there is plenty more, because Alan Mabey had the kind of catholic taste that I can only approve of. He liked Shell posters and London Transport too, although interestingly there aren’t many railway posters. Amongst these are plenty enough of the recognised heroes and heroines of graphic design – not just Kauffer, but also Dora Batty, Austin Cooper and Frank Newbould.

But he also bought some less obviously collectable posters, the kind of commercial art, in short, which is so often left out of the record. The first of these is by Robert Gossop from 1928, the second is dateless and anonymous.

This F Gregory Brown is also rather fine.

What doesn’t tend to be represented as much is the kind of post-war poster that I love most of all. There are one or two, to be sure, like this 1963 Abram Games.

Again, this is matched with some of the more commercial work of the time.

The first is anonymous, but the second one is by Barbosa, and the website gives a rather wonderful biography for him.

Artur Barbosa was born in Liverpool, the son of the Portuguese vice-consul and a half-French mother. He studied at Liverpool School of Art and the Central School of Art in London. Whilst still a student he produced illustrations for Everybody’s Weekly and The Radio Times, in addition to producing book covers. He is probably best remembered for his cover illustrations for the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer. In addition to cover illustrations, Barbosa also designed for the stage, produced drawings for fashion magazines and the leading advertising agencies. Barbosa was at school with Rex Harrison, the friendship endured into adulthood when Harrison commissioned Barbosa to design the interiors of his villa in Portofino. This in turn led to a commission to refurbish Elizabeth Taylor’s yacht, the Kalizma.

What is present though, as the poster at the top has hinted, is a major collection of psychedelic posters from the 1960s.

What I can’t tell you is whether any of this this represents Alan Mabey’s taste or not, because the British Council has been augmenting the collection over the years.

Since the bequest the collection was augmented by post-war works by leading British artists and designers acquired by General Exhibition Department.

They must have been doing that quite heavily too; they say that the bequest was over 300 posters, but the online catalogue runs to 843. Which is quite a lot.

There are two things to say about the archive. One is that only about a quarter of the poster are illustrated. However much I have tried to work through the full list of titles, my feel for the collection is still very much based on what I have seen rather than read. I actually found the collection when looking for a Tom Eckersley Post Office Savings Bank poster from 1952, so there is plenty more treasure within. How about this wartime Edward Wadsworth lithograph, produced by the Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts?

I need to know more.

The other point worth making is that this is actually one of the major British poster collections. It may not be quite as large as the V&A’s, but it has some of the same scope and ambition. But I had no idea that it even existed. So what else is out there that I need to know about?

Sightseeing

London Transport

The combination of house renovation and school holiday means that the blog has been a bit neglected recently. By way of apology, here’s a very lovely bit of Abram Games, very much on an appropriate theme for the holidays.

Some closely related posters were on here the other day, but this isn’t it, rather it’s the leaflet which must have been part of the same campaign. West End or City, do you think? Or how about a trip out of town to Windsor, tea included in the fare?

What always strikes me about these kind of leaflets is how different the bulk of the typesetting is from the cover – the British Railways Holiday Haunts guides are another good example. Outside we are in a modern and exciting world; inside it’s business as usual.

I can only imagine that it was the covers and posters which got sent out to designers, while the rest was always done by the in-house design team.

In the end, though, I’m not sure that I mind that much – the mismatch is part of the period charm. Nowadays everything would match, and every element of the design would chime with every other. But would it be better as a result? Perhaps not, just different.

Harrogate Return

auctions

It’s taken two years, but finally I can report on another Morphet’s sale. Sadly this is not another great poster extravaganza, but still worth your time and attention. Shall we take this for starters?

Abram Games, 1951, est. £200-300

The poster – which by rights should go for quite a bit more than that estimate – is a bit of a clue as to what’s going on here. Because although there are a few other posters in this sale, like the Gordon Nicol below, they’re not the main point of interest.

Gordon Nicol, 1958, est. £150-200

Although I will always have time for this London Transport poster, which I know I’ve mentioned on here at least once before

A R Thomson, 1949, est. £ 200-300

The main bulk of the fun isn’t posters for a change, but Festival of Britain ephemera, because this auction contains it in industrial quantities, well over sixty lots which range from womens’ handkerchiefs to horse brasses via pretty much everything in between.

Lager glasses anyone?

Or just, well, stuff?

But amongst the amusements are also a few more sensible things, like this Festival pot. Actually, it isn’t sensible at all but I still rather like it.

Then there is this Wedgwood mug, designed by Norman Makinson.

While we’re on the subject of Wedgwood, I should probably also mention this Ravilious Coronation mug as well.

If you’re wondering how he designed a mug for an event in 1953 when he’d died in 1942, the design was originally created for the coronation of Edward VII in 1937, and then revised for the coronations of both George VI and then Elizabeth II. So there. Estimate £120-150 if you’re desiring it.

Anyway, there is loads more to be found in the catalogues, so really it’s much better if you just go and have a look for yourselves. As long as you then tell me if you buy anything.

That’s not the only reason to go and take a look, though, because in addition to all of the Festival memorabilia it’s also offering also a very interesting set of Lyons prints too. The highlights are the Bawden and the Freedman if you ask me.

Edward Bawden, 1947, est. £200-300

Barnett Freedman, 1955, est. £250-300

I also have a soft spot for this Ardizzone too.

Edward Ardizzone, 1955, est. £80-100

But I can’t afford any of them because we’ve just bought a house, so they’re all yours if you want them. Off you go.

Give that penguin a fish!

other

A recent acquisition on eBay was a few copies of Modern Publicity from the late 1950s and early 1960s. I was going to share their delights with you anyway, but when I looked into the archives I realised that I’ve never actually blogged about this properly at all. Then when I looked a bit harder I discovered that Designers in Britain has only ever been mentioned in passing as well. As both are rather fabulous resources, I will endeavour to put at least some of this to rights over the next few weeks. But first, a brief introduction.

Modern Publicity is an international annual, published by The Studio group, which covers what would now be called graphic design – posters, printed material, packaging and trade marks – from around the world. In contrast, Designers in Britain does what it says on the tin and only deals with UK design and designers, but includes everything from letterheads to large pieces of industrial machinery. While both of them suffer from being predominantly printed in black and white, they are nonetheless well worth your attention. Not only do you get to look at lots of wonderful pieces all in one place, but they’re also fascinating insights into what critics and designers thought was good at the time it was produced. Which isn’t always the same as the things we like now.

So, what did people admire in the late 1950s and early 1960s? Or to be more precise, which pieces of graphic design were considered good enough to stand next to the cream of international design? One answer is not the designers that you might expect. Tom Eckersley gets just one poster included in the two Modern Publicity annuals from the 1950s.

You’ll be relieved to hear that he does rather better in 1962, with three designs included, amongst them this Omo poster which I’ve never seen before.

Abram Games also receives a rave review in 1958 for this Guinness poster, which is chosen to open the entire book.

Only where both name and product are already household words is such a method possible. To adopt the plan for an unknown advertiser would be to court disaster.

After that, it all gets a bit more unexpected. I’ve mentioned before that Harry Stevens is very popular in these kinds of publications, and that’s as true in these annuals as it ever was.

Printed in lemon, vermilion, cobalt, orange, pink and black, the caption says. I don’t think black and white is really fair on it, do you? And should you have a copy in colour, please do let me know, I’d love to see it.

An even more surprising regular is Ken Bromfield. Now he comes up every now and then on here, mostly as a designer of quite nice railway posters. But the editors of Modern Publicity love his work – he gets four pieces of work in the 1959 edition alone, including this poster.

This is the artwork from the NMSI collection, because I can’t find the actual poster anywhere. But he’s clearly an artist I should take a proper look at one of these days.

There are also a few unexpected gems to be discovered, like this poster by Lander.

I can’t find a decent picture of this anywhere, which is really frustrating as it looks great, and must look even better in colour, (and I am getting quite close to having another rant about the inadequacies of the National Railway Museum catalogue as a result of my looking too). Again, any pointers gratefully received. Or indeed copies of the poster.

There are others of this ilk as well – it’s always worth being reminded of this London Transport poster by Edwin Tatum.

I’m also happy to see anything at all by Arpad Elfer, although these penguins are particularly splendid.

There’s plenty more where that came from. Here, just as an example, are Karo and Zero together on one page (did you see what they did there?).

What a world it must have been with those advertisements in it.

Then there are the people I’ve just never heard of before. Who, for example was Petronella Hodges? She did this.

And this too.

But she appears precisely nowhere in Google. A mystery, it seems. But the clue lies in the small print. Both of these designs were produced by J Walter Thompson, so my guess would be that Petronella Hodges was an art director there at the end of the 1950s. Quite apart from conjuring up images of a British version of Mad Men, it’s also a pointer to a very specific change that was going on. The jobbing freelance designer would become an increasingly rare species, with only the very best surviving. More and more, this kind of design would be done in house at the agencies, by this new breed of Art Director.

In amongst all of this, I realise that I’ve hardly even mentioned the 1962 edition, and there’s lots going on in there, as even the British make the move from whimsy to modernism. So that will have to get a post to itself another day. In the meantime, have a couple more rare gems from the late 50s, by Abram Games and E Tatum, again. There’s someone else I’m going to need to find out more about, isn’t it…

Posters Produce Results

auctions

No arguing with that, is there.

Cecilia Murphy, 1932, est. $1,700-2,000

Although for today’s post, the results we are mostly bothered about come from auctions, as all at once there is a rush of new sales on the horizon and I can hardly keep up.

That poster above is included in Poster Auction International’s May 6 sale in New York. There isn’t a great deal else of British interest there, except to say that it’s always good to see something by Ashley Havinden.

Ashley Havinden, 1932, est $2,000-2,500

I’m also going to make one of my periodic exemptions for things foreign, mainly because this exhibition poster by Max Bill is just an extraordinary piece of design for 1945.

USA Baut. 1945 MAX BILL (1908-1994) vintage exhibition poster
Max Bill, 1945, est. $800-1,000

It still looks modern now, so back then it must have seemed like a visitation from the future.

Other than that, there is what looks like a chance to buy the complete works of Alphonse Mucha, but if you’ve got enough money to do that – estimates go as high as $90,000 – you’re probably not reading this blog for advice on posters.

There’s a bit more to detain the rest of us at the forthcoming Van Sabben auction on April 21st, although most of it comes from the well-trodden paths of airline advertising, wartime and post-war propaganda posters and the London Underground.

Having said that, even these can deliver a few surprises, the greatest of which is probably this Beaumont. In fact more of a fright than a surprise really; Mr Crownfolio is very worried that someone has beheaded their mum and put her in the cabbage patch.

Beaumont vintage propaganda poster 1950 cabbages
Leonard Beaumont, 1950, est. €120-400

Even at the top end, that estimate seems fairly reasonable when you consider that the lot also includes three other posters of the same ilk, all dating, I think, from after the war.

On a similar theme is this poster, although with the added bonus of an interestingly menacing tone.

Anonymous, 1946, est. €80-160

Once again, there is a slew of airline posters, many of which have featured on this blog before. Of those, the most desirable is probably this Abram Games.

Abram Games, 1949, est. €650-1,000

But there are a few novelties here too. This is one.

Glad, 1949, est €150-280.

I have never come across Glad before, but it’s really rather good, so if anyone can knows more, please do let me know.

The second is by John Bainbridge, about whom I do know more and have been meaning to post about for some time, because he is both excellent and not well enough known.

John Bainbridge, 1949, est. €150-250

Although he worked in Britain for much of his career, John Bainbridge was originally from Australia, and there is a really good archive of his work over there, which I must post about one day.

There aren’t many London Transport posters for once, but those few are quite unusual. This first one can only be from the 1930s.

Roy Meldrum, 1933, est. € 300-600.

Van Sabben also have the poster below dated to 1935, which seemed a bit odd to me. And a brief delve into the LT Museum site gives a date of 1950 instead, as well as confirming that it is one half of a pair poster.

James Arnold, 1950, est. €120-250.

Again, this looks like quite a bargain, as it also gets you this S John Woods poster from the same year as well.

Oddly, the other half of the farms pair poster is also on sale, but in a different lot.

James Arnold, 1950, est. €100

I’m no completist when it comes to pair posters – would you ever really put the other half up on the wall? So given the choice, I think I’d probably rather have the S John Woods instead.

As if all of that wasn’t enough for one day, Poster Connection also have a sale in San Francisco on 28th April. There are airline posters, and that’s probably all I need to say about it. But I did rather like this one.

Anonymous, 1948, est. $200-360.

But it’s not just the gaiety I like, it’s also a reminder of the huge gulf between Britain and America at this point. Britain was still enduring austerity, worse even than during the war, and this brightly coloured poster would have been an unimaginable luxury, depicting foreign travel which could only be dreamed off. Such stuff were for export only, as the country desperately tried to entice Americans over to spend their money, and so help pay off the war debt.

Stamp stamp

designers

Truly I have taken leave of my sense, because I have bought a presentation pack of stamps.

Now under any other circumstances this would be the piece of ephemera too far and you would be at complete liberty to laugh and point at me. Except it looks like this.

Rather good, isn’t it?

These are the stamps inside, and the blurb tells me that they are by Abram Games, so I am rather assuming the cover is too.

The pack also tells me that they commissioned Games because of his holiday posters, which for me immediately brought this one to mind.

But when I googled, the image that came up time and time again was not that deckchair but his parasol instead.

This is the one in the collection of MoMA in New York, the one that has sold for £1,700 at Christies, and is clearly the big cheese in the world of Abram Games Jersey posters. Which just goes to show how little I know.

But in the course of tracing its triumphs, I also found that it had an interesting afterlife too. It was, it appears, reversioned as a BEA poster too, which isn’t something I’ve ever come across before.

And then there’s this: proof that a great graphic idea can be easily misapplied.

Games must have loved that.