With brush, ink and paint
“Plus,” she adds, “I’ve been living with this archive since 1996 when my dad died. This is my sixth book on him now. It’s been a labour of love, a very interesting one, but this is my last word on the subject.” She has also produced a film about him, and organised many exhibitions and lectures.
Her motivation is to tell the world about “one of Britain’s greatest designers. That’s why he’s being honoured in April with a blue plaque, which is a huge, proud moment for us. It’s wonderful. I think he’s one of the first designhome, ers, poster designers at least, to get a plaque.” (She’s right.)
During the war, Games, the only Army designer with the title Official War Poster Artist, had so many projects that he constantly worked through the night, even during air raids. After the war, he worked at Above: Use spades, not ships, 1942 Right: The author with her father in his studio where he shooed the kids out of his studio when he was concentrating, but then invited them back in when he was finished to see what they thought of it. He took his family’s comments seriously, as his priority was to make his work understandable to everyone.
Was that hard to live with? “No, it was fascinating”, said Naomi, herself a graphic designer, “and we met so many interesting people — and still do”.
Games was born Abraham Gamse in 1914 in Whitechapel to Latvian and Russian parents. His father was a photographer and his mother a seamstress. She made him the ubiquitous artist smocks that he wore when working.
Naomi says: “He was very mindful of being a Jew. He was traditional. We had Friday nights, he went to synagogue— he was very proud of being Jewish. He used to go to Israel a lot, and there will be an exhibition there later this year.”
Also in her book are posters he did for free for the Jewish Relief Abroad and other Jewish organisations raising money for Holocaust survivors just after the war.
Games was passionate about his work and also passionate about the struggle against the Nazis. After D-Day, he felt guilty that his friends were fighting on the beaches in France while he sat in his studio. He went to his commander and asked to be put back in the infantry to join the fight. The commander said, “You’ve 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 get on and do it! We can always replace a soldier, but we cannot replace you.”
Games accepted that the posters were his most effective way to help the war effort, and went on to do many more for the army, all of them in his muscular, modern style. They still look fresh now.
Post-war, he did many commercial projects, including the BBC’s very first animated television ident and the symbol for the 1951 Festival of Britain. The collection of this work is spectacular.
His commander was right. No one could match him. Persuading soldiers to vote, 1944 Appeal for aid for camp survivors, 1945 Logo for the Festival of Britain, 1951
April will be quite a month for remembering Abram Games. “The Art of Persuasion: Wartime Posters by Abram Games” will be exhibited at the National Army Museum in London from April 6th to November 24th. There will also be a documentary screening and lectures by Naomi Games there. His blue plaque will be mounted in North London. ‘Abram Games: His Wartime Work’ is published by Amberley Publishing to coincide with the exhibition.
For more information, see www.abramgames.com.