Bruce Angrave

Bruce Angrave (c. 1913[note 1]–8 July 1983) was an artist who specialised in posters. He designed many for the large railway companies, as well as posters and cartoons for Ministry of Information during World War II.

Biography

Angrave was born in the early 1910s,[note 1][1][2] in Leicester, England, living in Westcotes[3] Angrave's father, Charles, was a lithograph artist and he was educated by Austin Cooper at Reimann School of Art and Design.[4] He also studied at Chiswick Art School in Ealing and Central School of Art and Design, London.[5] As well as Cooper, Angrave took influence from Tom Eckersley, Lewitt-Him and Abram Games.[6]

Angrave has been commissioned by the main railway companies to create posters in the 1930s, as well as British Railways in 1950s. One of his posters, advertising "Newquay: Cornwall’s finest Atlantic resort" for Great Western Railway sold for £3,000 in New York in 2014. It was believed that the poster had been created in 1932, when Angrave was still a teenager.[3] Dr Bex Lewis explains that "[Angrave] believed that a poster should be approved or discarded within two seconds, and disapproved of the 'conference table' method."[7] Around this time he was working at the London Press Exchange, where he would remain until the Second World War, where he would draw cartoons and design posters for the Ministry of Information.[4] Angrave was a member of the Society of Industrial Artists[6] and Art and Industry described Angrave’s work as ‘clear, uncluttered line, reduced everything to the simplest possible terms, and invests his work with gaiety and derisive wit that is unmistakable’.[7]

After the war, Angrave held an exhibitions of his work, including drawings he had produced for various books and journals, as well as sculptures in paper and wood and his many posters. The exhibition ran from 9–23 May 1946 at Foyles book store in London.[8]

Angrave died on 8 July 1983.[9] Angrave's work would go on to be displayed in the Henry Moore Institute Galleries in 2016 "The Body Extended: Sculpture and Prosthetics" exhibition.[10] ber of the Society of Industrial Artists."

Notes
  1. Sources differ on Angrave's birth year, either 1912 or 1914.

References
  1. Room, Adrian (2014). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins (5th ed.). McFarland. p. 79. ISBN 9780786457632. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  2. Edelstein, T. J. (2010). Art for All: British Posters for Transport (Illustrated ed.). Yale Center for British Art. p. 145. ISBN 9780300152975. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  3. Owen, David (16 October 2014). "NY auction sells rare rail poster". Leicester Mercury. p. 20.
  4. "Bruce Angrave". Leicester Mercury. Leicester, England. 16 October 2014. p. 20.
  5. Lewis, Dr Bex (24 July 2009). "Bruce Angrave (b 1914; d.1983)". Dr Bex Lewis. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  6. "ANGRAVE, BRUCE - Lord Dragline the Dragon". Antiqbook. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  7. Lewis, Dr Bex (24 July 2009). "Bruce Angrave (b 1914; d.1983)". Dr Bex Lewis. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  8. "Art Exhibitions". The TImes (50447). London, England. 9 May 1946. p. 6.
  9. "Deaths". The Times (61581). London, England. 11 July 1983. p. 22.
  10. "The Body Extended: Sculpture and Prosthetics". Mutual Art. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
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