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Exploring Shell's remarkable advertising archive, which includes an extensive poster collection, as well as film, cartoon graphics and guidebooks, this book is the first to present a comprehensive overview of the company's artistic heritage. The key contributions made by some major artists and designers including Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland, Ben Nicholson and Edward McKnight Kauffer are highlighted and beautifully reproduced from original archive material, and broader questions are explored, such as Shell's position within contemporary debates regarding the aesthetics of 'Commercial Art'. By delving into the ways in which Shell's publicity was conceived, commissioned and disseminated in the 20th century, the authors examine the historical and social contexts of Shell's advertising and assess the work's broader cultural significance in shaping an era defined by travel, prosperity and mass democracy.
List of contents
Foreword, David Gentleman; Introduction - The Spirit of Advertising, Nicky Balfour Penney; It Started with a Seashell: Shell Origins, Oliver Green; Posters, Patronage and Prestige: 1928-1945, Margaret Timmers; Shell: The Work of Art, Scott Anthony; Shell's Art Heritage: Collections, Curation and Outreach, Nicky Balfour Penney and Margaret Timmers; Profiles; Notes; Further Reading; Acknowledgements; Image Credits; Index
About the author
Scott Anthony is a writer and historian. His books include
Night Mail (2007),
The Projection of Britain (2011) and
The Story of Propaganda (2021).
Nicky Balfour Penney (contributor) is the Shell Heritage Art Collection Manager.
Oliver Green is former Head Curator and now Research Fellow at the London Transport Museum and a freelance historian and museums consultant. His publications include
London's Underground: The Story of the Tube (2019) and
British Aviation Posters: Art, Design and Flight (2012).
Margaret Timmers was formerly Senior Curator of Prints in the Word & Image Department of the V&A. She is the editor of
The Power of the Poster (1998) and co-editor with Gill Saunders of
The Poster: A Visual History (2020).
Summary
Featuring a wealth of beautiful reproductions from Shell's extensive archive, Shell Art & Advertising positions the company's artistic heritage within a historic and social context.
Additional text
‘[Shell’s] publicity was multimedia. There were the whimsical Shell Guides by John Betjeman and John Piper, and a film unit of such distinction that during World War II Beddington was seconded to the Ministry of Information to make documentaries. These events are told in lively and well-researched text and one learns much about the Shell Guides in particular, but it’s the skill and variety of the poster art that will persuade most people to buy this book. The oil behemoth’s output celebrated the British landscape or quirky landmarks, often using contemporary artists to highlight the modern world that petrol had brought into being.’ – World of Interiors
