Some of the most memorable graphic images of mid-20th century Britain were the work of the designer ABRAM GAMES (1914-1996). As an Official War Artist during World War II, he designed over a hundred posters and later created the symbols of the BBC and the Festival of Britain.
For many Britons in the 1950s the image of Britannia festooned with red, white and blue bunting was as – if not more – evocative of the Festival of Britain and its 'can do' spirit than any of the marvels of post-war British manufacturing that they had seen when visiting the festival on London's South Bank.
Britannia and her bunting – like the poster of the "blonde bombshell", an alluringly pretty ATS girl who had urged her compatriots to join up during World War II – was the work of Abram Games. In the austere visual culture of wartime and post-war Britain, his work was unmissable. Bold, vigorous and often gently humorous, Abram Games' graphic art was the work of a gifted draughtsman with a flair for devising inventive combinations of text and image.
