Shell Poster Book by John Hewitt

Shell Poster Book by John Hewitt

The very best of Shell art from the collection housed at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. These posters are more than just a vibrant celebration of one company's enlightened and eclectic advertising policy - they are superb pieces of art in their own right. From the 1920s to the 1950s Shell produced some of the most memorable advertising posters Britain has ever seen. Used as lorry bills, the posters are both extremely fine examples of commercial art and a nostalgic view of a lost Britain. The list of artists commissioned by Shell reads like a Who's Who of the British art establishment of the period - Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland, Vanessa Bell, Ben Nicholson, Rex Whistler and Edward McKnight Kauffer. Shell realised early on that its advertisements promoted not only petrol and oil but also motoring, and motoring meant special pleasures - exhilaration, freedom and the joys of the countryside. And so Shell took the whole of Britain as its theme - landmarks, institutions, events, follies and foibles.

A glorious evocation of a lost world where roads were empty, motorways an exhilarating pleasure, and going for a drive on a Sunday afternoon was not the height of insanityLeading artists of the day were commissioned to design the posters. * The Independent on Sunday *
not only history of petrol, oil and motoring, but also a tribute to the heyday of British poster art * The Times *

John Hewitt is Head of the Department of History of Art and Design at Manchester Metropolitan University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781861970619
ISBN 10	1861970617
Title	Shell Poster Book
Author	John Hewitt
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Profile Books Ltd
Year published	1998-03-30
Number of pages	128
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.