Restless Times: Art in Britain 1914 -1945

As well as the Abram Games exhibition, we also visited the Millenium Gallery for an exhibition called 'Restless Times: Art In Britain 1914-1945'. This exhibition featured art from a period where Britain was defined by the devastation of two world wars, and as a result, a lot of the work was very powerful to express the feelings of the British at that time.

One of the pieces that caught my eye was a piece called 'Speed Underground' by Alan Rogers. It was part of a campaign to restore interest in the London Underground system. The poster is very eye-catching and I immediately sat down to draw my own sketch of it:

Alan Rogers' original - Speed Underground

My sketch - done in graphite.

I also really loved a piece I found by an artist called Julian Trevelyan, called 'Rubbish May Be Shot Here'. This piece is photomontage/collage and is another piece that really caught my eye:

I love this piece because I feel it is a statement on the feelings of the British people in 1937, when the work was created. The people perhaps felt like they were useless and rubbish, thus creating the image of a landfill-type site filled with people. I also like the way the sky is painted with the various dark tones to create clouds in the sky and the pollution created by the chimneys. It gives the painting an industrial feel which helps with the feeling of oppression the people express.
I really like the statement this image gives, as well as the way the message is presented, and it definitely inspires me to look further into collage and photomontage in the future.

I enjoyed the Restless Times exhibition, though I found it harder to take in because of the sheer amount of work available, and the prohibiton of photography. I did enjoy the Abram Games exhibition more, but I found the Restless Times exhibition very interesting and insightful, and it definitely inspired me to look at new techniques to use in my art in the future

Visit to the Abram Games Exhibition

On the 18th October, we headed out on a trip to Sheffield to visit two exhibitions. The first was an exhibition called 'Restless Times', which I will cover in the next post, but the second was on the graphic designer Abram Games.
Abram Games is well known for his poster work, which included many posters for recruitment in World War II. A lot of these recruitment posters were on display at the exhibition, as well as many other pieces of advertising for The Times Newspaper and ads for holiday destinations like Jersey and Blackpool.

While at the exhibition, I took plenty of photographs of Games' work. I particularly liked this piece that was on display:

I found this piece particularly interesting because of the shell's shape which forms the 'J' of 'Jersey'. The colours were minimal, as was the design, but it got the message across clearly. Games' personal motto was "Maximum meaning, minimum means" and this was clearly on display in all of his work.
One of the things that fascinated me in particular about this piece was the 'work in progress' sketches that were on display near it:

These are very helpful in understanding Games' thought process as he was designing the Jersey poster. It always amazes me to see the 'behind the scenes' of an artist's work, so I can learn from it when working on my own artwork. One of the big things I noticed (and liked) about these concept sketches was how random and messy they are, which makes the ideas seem much more spontaneous and chaotic. I am fascinated by the image this conjures of Games at his desk, struck by an idea and scribbling furiously in response. It feels very special to be allowed into an artist's mind and placed on the journey from inspiration to product with them.

It was hard to choose a piece that truly illustrated my admiration for Abram Games' work, but I feel these photographs showcase the pieces that spoke to me the most at his exhibition.