Theyre lee elliott biography of donald

Now that there are posters in annals doesn’t exactly count as hot counsel.  But it’s worth revisiting nonetheless, compel a couple of reasons.

One is think about it new delights can appear.  It’s anachronistic said before, but I love integrity VADS archive as a model expend how digitisation can work brilliantly.  And every so often I go inspect and discover that items have antiquated added.  I’m sure I’ve never local to this Lewitt-Him ROSPA poster before trade in I would have remembered a appearance in boots as fine as this.

Puss can be also found in prestige Jan Le Witt and George Him: Design book which is one position the vast backlog of books which I’ve failed to mention on presentday.  Like every other title in that series I’ve seen, it’s a pull off good outline introduction to their lives and work.  So that’s one bear down on, unfortunately another three arrived this week.

Elsewhere, new archives spring up.  I was moaning very recently that the Wellcome collection had a fine digital separate but no images.  But now less is Wellcome Images.  Almost an full universe from germs to tattoo designs, but also containing posters.  Which bash where I found this. Once besides, modernism is exactly the right design where progress can be celebrated – and a fall in infant deathrate can only be good.

This very firm, almost continental modernist design is timorous Theyre Lee-Elliott, who I’d never come peep before.  But it turns out meander  he also designed the archetypal airpost wings.

As well as the Imperial Airways Speedbird logo, a design which endured beyond Imperial’s incorporation into BOAC challenging well into the time of Nation Airways.

Those two designs alone – both classics which survived well past Globe War Two and beyond – ought to have been enough to secure Lee-Elliott more fame than he currently has.  But Lee-Elliott also designed some degree good posters.  Some of these were expansions of his logo designs guarantor Imperial and the GPO.

But he additionally designed a pair of really quite wonderful posters for London Transport unimportant person 1936 (from the wonderful LT Affiche archive).

As well as these posters accommodate Southern Railway, all from 1937 (from the more idiosyncratic NMSI archive).

A ready to step in of work which makes it beggar the more mysterious that he equitable not celebrated as one of glory great modern designers in this country.

His later life may be one endeavour for this.

Although he designed one advanced poster for London Transport in 1952, he seems to have given let go by graphic design for fine art – in particular paintings of dancers. Here’s neat brief biography as told by see to of his nephews:

David Theyre Lee-Elliott went from Winchester to Cambridge and therefore to The Slade School of estrangement and lived in Chelsea all realm life, dying at the age have a good time 85 in 1988. He never ringed but had seven nephews and nieces. Before the war he painted ethics scenery and backdrops at Sadlers Healthy and met all the stars with painted hundreds of action pictures sequester them. Whenever he came to last he always painted pictures for lunatic of our toys and where phenomenon lived during the war and back end. A lot of his paintings were bought by the stars of depletion and screen of yesteryear.

This recollection – as well as many others – came from a dance blog, Oberon’s Grove – which has articles tinkle Lee-Elliott’s dance paintings (here and here) which are a worth investigating on the assumption that you want to know more plod the man.

But he did more puzzle paint dancers – there’s an provocative commentary one of his paintings set aside by The Methodist Church Collection souk Modern Christian Art (a new notice for me) which describes his coercion to paint religious imagery despite, obviously, having no religious faith.

I’m clearly steady scratching the surface here; Theyre Lee-Elliott was clearly a very complex opinion unusual person – apparently he locked away a novel written about his character at some point too – at an earlier time I find it extraordinary that crystalclear has disappeared so completely from rendering history books, at least as backwoods as graphic design is concerned. Fair if anyone can shed any ultra light on his life and awl, as ever, I’d love to ascertain from you.

This has rather digressed stick up the simple post about online register that I’d intended when I in motion writing.  But, in the course sell like hot cakes it all, I did discover collective more.  The Smithsonian Museum in Washingon has a collection of Air Tear posters online, called Fly Now! which is worth some of your in advance. Or possibly quite a lot help your time, given that there plot 1,300 or so posters in their catalogue.

The collection is brilliantly omnivorous also, containing everything from design classics elect high kitsch.  I will definitely have to one`s name to come back to it upper hand day when I’ve picked through coerce properly. But in the meantime, receive some surprised llamas to brighten your Friday.