ABRAM GAMES

PRODUCING SOME OF WWII’S MOST ICONIC PROPAGANDA AND INFORMATION POSTERS, THE WARTIME SERVICE OF THIS WORLD-FAMOUS DESIGNER IS EXPLORED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME

“YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN WHO CAN DO THIS AND YOU WILL BLOODY WELL GET ON AND DO IT!”

Author: Naomi Games Publisher: Amberley Price: £16.99

Abram Games was born into a world engulfed in violence and turmoil. His birth in 1914 took place the day after Austria-hungary declared war on Serbia, igniting the First World War. Games’s parents had emigrated from Latvia and Russo-poland to Whitechapel in London’s East End, where the future ‘Official British War Poster Artist’ of the Second World War received his education at St Martin’s School of Art.

From his earliest childhood, Games was determined to become an artist. His ambition was to lead him to become one of the most outstanding graphic designer of the 20th century. Games was possessed of the fighting spirit that characterised many Jewish immigrants who had fled the persecution of anti-semitic societies. He marched in Whitechapel against Oswald Mosley’s fascist Blackshirts and he became involved with the National Joint Committee for Spanish relief, which supported Republican Spain in the Spanish Civil War. This was when he designed some of his earliest war posters.

Games was called up for army service in 1940. Within a year, his talents as a graphic artist caused him to be posted to the War Office, where he designed 100 classic wartime posters. He never felt comfortable holding down a desk job while soldiers were risking their lives on the battlefield. When he took his request to return to active service to Major-general Edward Lawson, Director of Public Relations, the thundering reply was, “You have been appointed to do a job and as far as the army is concerned, you are the only man who can do this and you will bloody well get on and do it!” Games was obliged to reconcile himself to the fact that his work was essential to the war effort.

This book by the author’s daughter Naomi Games is the only work published to date that focuses exclusively on her father’s war work. During his seven years in army service, Games produced a number of posters of lasting impact which, when viewed today, make it hard to repress a swell of nostalgia for those

‘stiff upper lip’ days of 1939-45. His highlysuccessful Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) Blonde Bombshell recruiting poster remains an unforgettable image, so too the art deco-style art works for the Commando Medical Service and the dramatic images of the ‘Talk Kills’ posters.

The subject matter of Games’s posters was aimed primarily at the fighting forces, but they were not always concerned with military matters. The topics ranged from maintaining healthy teeth to the treatment of scabies. Likewise, those on the home front were encouraged to knit – ‘Our Jungle Fighters Want Socks’ –, give clothing ‘For Liberated Jewry’ and he also designed posters for wartime films, like

The Way Ahead, starring David Niven.

The poster Games was most proud of and wanted to be remembered for was part of a ‘Careless Talk’ campaign within the army. ‘Your Talk’ gives a direct pictorial warning against loose gossip. The poster was used to link up with the Ealing Studio propaganda film The Next Of Kin and featured in the War Office film,

Breathing Space. This book offers a rich, visual portrayal of Games’s work and the man behind the many posters that have become icons of wartime Britain. JS