Nostalgia and Progress Exhibition

This week I had a look at the Nostalgia and Progress: Illustration after the Second World War exhibition which displayed work by major post-war illustrators and contemporary illustrators inspired by the era.
The exhibition explores the history of British book illustration; many of the themes revolved around the nostalgia or the war as well as technological progress and innovation. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs of the work due to copyright reasons etc.

Edward Ardizzone had many of his original pieces from the 1960's era on display which were absolutely stunning. The colour schemes used in these water colour and ink pieces consisted of black and either muted pink or green colour to create depth and tone. My favourite piece entitled 'child playing' captured the innocence of a child playing aimlessly in the street in the post war period. At the time the economy was in a bad state, still in rationalisation which restricted luxury in many families. I love the sense of the young boy 'making do' of playing with whatever he can find in the street and still being satisfied whilst simultaneously dismissing the troubles of the era.

Edward Bawden- Cover for 'The Listner'
1961 line drawing

I was attracted to the narrative in this piece, by replacing generic human characteristics with those of cats at a stereotypically British Christmas setting. The tree decorations of fish and birds (heavily desired by cats) and the books being read 'Puss Alice in Wonderland' etc all add to the sense of humour within the illustration. The colour scheme is pretty powerful too, the simple pink background allows the detail of the black and white line drawings to be intricately amplified.

Tom Frost- 'A is for Ant'
2014 Screen Print

I really admire this screen print by Tom Frost. The sharp lines and bold, block colours are very enticing, but I love the way that this image appeals to mature people, as its immediate purpose would be assumed to aid a young child in learning the alphabet.