£875
MODERN MADE | Design on the Move: Posters from the Shell Heritage Art Collection | 655
Auction: 29 April 2021 at 19:00 BST
lithographic poster, 1952, condition A-; not backed
Literature:
Hewitt, The Shell Poster Book, 103.
The ‘Everywhere you Go’ You can be Sure of Shell’ series featured fine landmarks, historical sights and inspiring landscapes, all firmly located in the countryside. It was an idealized view of a rural order much sought after by the middle classes, particularly those from large towns. “By celebrating and making accessible such rural delights, Shell won the plaudits of powerful pressure groups who sought to protect the countryside from urban expansion and the destruction of rural amenities by advertising hoardings”. The first exhibition of these Shell posters took place at the New Burlington Galleries in June 1931.
John Armstrong was a British artist and muralist who also designed for film and theatre productions. He is most notable for the Surrealist paintings he produced and was a member of the English avant-garde group, Unit One. His commission for Shell features the Cornish resort of Lamorna. Situated a few miles south of Newlyn, the valley and cove of Lamorna first attracted the attention of artists in the 19th century, including Alfred Munnings and Lamorna Birch, who named himself after the beauty spot. More than 100 painters, sculptors, etchers and potters, as well as writers and poets, are thought to have lived or worked near Lamorna Cove in the first 30 years of the 20th century.