Abram Games was one clever dude.
Talk about a guy that knew the medium, smashed the message and did so with creative, desirable, artistic flair that very few possess.
There’s a brand new exhibition of him and the artwork and posters he created while he was a poster artist for the Public Relations Department at the War Office from 1941 until 1945, and it’s seriously good.
Thing art deco-like posters done with taste, muted 40s/50s colour palettes and messages delivered so effortlessly, they’re hard to forget despite their nowadays irrelevant message.
He was the father of wartime graphic designers and just a straight-up genius. It’s a must-see exhibition – and the National Army Museum in general, as well – that will reinvigorate your appreciation of what a horrid time WWI and II were.
At a time of immense social unrest, after the ‘war to end all wars’ had left hundreds of thousands of veterans and civilians on the poverty line, the country was to embark on a second world war with National Service an unthinkable necessity. Games made the message the hero and turned some small part of it around as best he could.
See the exhibition at the National Army Museum London until 24 November 2019. Head to National Army Museum,
Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HT.
