School Prints Ltd was set up by Brenda Rawnsley just after the Second World War, with the aim of bringing the idea of art out from the gallery and elitist salon and onto the schoolroom wall. Initiated with her husband Derek, who sadly died before the project could get truly underway, School Prints brought the work of important living artists to schoolchildren. They are original lithographs, which means there is no painted starting point, each print being its own original. Artists of the calibre of John Nash, Barbara Jones and Kenneth Rowntree worked directly on litho stones or zinc plates for printing at the Baynard Press. Nash brought the excitement of the last minutes of reaping a cornfield to life, Jones a vibrant fairground scene and Rowntree a primitive orange tractor at work in a virulently green field. Tom Gentleman produced Grey Horses, a busy street scene in a Hertfordshire town (above) that features his schoolboy son David in the foreground. I have loved the idea of prints for schools ever since my own childhood, when I saw the classic Shell County and Natural History posters on my school hall walls. Imagine my heart-stopping surprise then, when the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham unearthed a cache of mint (and I mean 'mint') lithographs, and proceeded to taunt me with them. A grizzled fan goes on about them here.
Totnes, Devon
3 days ago
5 comments:
How lovely. I want to live there.
You bugger! You've done it again. Just as I was drifting back to the present, I'm swiftly returned to primary school and it's all coke boilers and Mr.Cakebread our teacher rolling himself another slim little cigarette just like he'd done as a navigator on Lancasters (always roll-ups, laddie, so they went out on their own accord when you put them down). Funny thing to do, that, what with all those bombs and aviation spirit lying about. Anyway, one of those fairground posters really did it for me as I struggled with long division.
Ah, Mr Dudley! You have returned to face the music (so to speak). Mr Ashley introduced me to your little 'visit' conundrum over a shared meal last week. As he dipped his bread into my fondue, he passed on some impenetrable numbers - the meanings of which, only after extensive (expensive) bribery, did he explain. Of course, I recognised the engine, from meeting Grandad's late friend Mr G. Brown, who raced similar machinery; I failed elsewhere.
As to the lithographs, I so regret that, at Kingsley School for Girls, the only posters we had were those extolling the virtues of clean-living and avoiding boys. I took those two far too seriously and wonder how much better I might have become had I considered Ms Rawnsley's excellent work.
Miss J. How delightful to experience your fragrance once more...I thought I detected a hint of Yardley's Lily of the Valley come wafting through the blog (my favourite, by the way). Your clandestine meal 'a deux' sounds quite delightful especially the saucy fondue. I believe Mr.A is currently trying to unload some surplus ice cream after a failed East Sussex commercial venture..did he by any chance offer you a Whoppa from the fridge? No matter. Full marks on the engine front though. The posters are wonderful aren't they...just to keep on blog.
Marvellous prints. I'm especially a fan of the John Nash ones and also the oddly quiet fairground scene by Barbara Jones.
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