SKU: 11190
Barnett Freedman
(1901 - 1958)
The farmer and his wife, at the roadside, mid 1920’s
£1,900
Sold
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Lithographic banners, the complete set for dressing a Lyons Teahouse window; various sizes
Size:
Height – 0cm
Width – cm
After the Second World War Freedman became The technical director of Lyons Tea Shops.
Commissioning artists like LS Lowry ,Edward Bawden, John Piper, John Minton and Edward Ardizzone, Freedman oversaw a series of 40 different lithographs which were used to decorate the shops. Freedman contributed three pictures to the series: People,1947; Music 1951 and The Window Box, 1954
In 1953, for the coronation of Elizabeth II, Freedman accepted a commission to design banners to dress the windows of the teashops. He gave meticulous instructions as to how these were to be displayed ‚Äì often alongside larger versions of the same ‘God Save Our Queen’ banners which were displayed on nearby advertising hoardings. The set being offered for sale here ‚Äì in pristine condition ‚Äì is believed to be the only complete set to have survived outside institutional collections.
Illustrator, painter, printmaker and teacher, Freedman was born to Russian Jewish immigrants living in poverty in the East End of London. In 1916, he worked as draughtsman to a monumental mason, and at the same time took evening classes at St Martin’s School of Art. In 1922, he won a three-year scholarship to the Royal College of Art. In 1928, he joined the staff of the Royal College, and not long afterwards began to teach at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. He soon became a pioneer in the revival of colour lithography. He was an Official War Artist in World War II. By the time of his death Freedman had established an enviable reputation as an illustrator and designer of posters, stamps, books and book-jackets. He believed that there was no such thing as commercial art, ‘only good art and bad art’. His first exhibition was held in 1929 at the Literary Bookshop, Bloomsbury. A memorial exhibition was organised by the Arts Council in 1958. Manchester Polytechnic, which holds the Freedman archive, held a major show in 1990. Examples of his work are in the collection of the Tate Gallery.
With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk
