National Army Museum, London

2019

This exhibition explored the life and legacy of the iconic designer Abram Games, focusing on his time as ‘Official War Poster Artist’ during the Second World War. Games’s wartime posters are synonymous with the visual identity of the period and continues to inspire visual designers today.

 

‘The art of persuasion’ examines the techniques Games used to communicate his messages effectively. From stark imagery and visual puns to innovative use of the airbrush, his unique artistic approach changed the face of British graphic design.

 

The exhibition includes posters from the National Army Museum’s collection alongside objects on loan from the family of Abram Games. The objects, being almost exclusively paperworks, required a high degree of care where conservation is concerned; bound to 50lux. This meant that the overall light levels had to be balanced in accordance with these requirements, to ensure maximum enjoyment of the objects. A colour changing ‘light well’ in the center of the gallery chased through various staurated colours to demonstrate how graphic pigments used in the posters come to life under different lighting conditions. 

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Photos courtesy of the National Army Museum