26 January 2006
A Portrait of WWII by Abram Games
War artist's poster exhibition
MEMORIES of World War II and Post-War Britain come flooding back to Manchester in an exhibition of public posters of the era by Official War Artist Abram Games.
Games (1914 – 1996) was one of the twentieth century’s most influential graphic designers and responsible for more than 100 ‘war effort’ posters, including the memorable ‘Your Talk May Kill Your Comrades’.
Other posters included ‘Join the ATS’ and ‘Grow You Own Food’ and after the War he produced famous designs for Guinness, the Financial Times and the BBC, designing the corporation’s first on-screen ‘logo’.
An exhibition of his work – including 60 posters, sketches, artwork and his curious inventions is showing at the Holden Gallery, at Manchester Metropolitan University’s School of Art & Design until February 24.
National Tour
His daughter Naomi Games will deliver a lecture on her father’s life and work on Tuesday, February 7, in the Geoffrey Manton building at 5:45pm, followed by a drinks reception.
The exhibition which is on a national tour, from the Design Museum, London, is titled ‘Maximum Meaning Minimum Means’ – Games’s personal philosophy on art which gave his posters a distinctive visual quality and wit.
The visit to MMU coincides with an on-going project by the School’s researcher arm MIRIAD which is digitising thousands of WWII posters and pamphlets with a £300,000 grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
