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148:. The style of his work – refined but vigorous compared to the work of contemporaries – has earned him a place in the pantheon of the best of 20th-century graphic designers. In acknowledging his power as a propagandist, he claimed, "I wind the spring and the public, in looking at the poster, will have that spring released in its mind." Because of the length of his career – over six decades – his work is essentially a record of the era's social history. Some of Britain's most iconic images include those by Games. An example is the "Join the ATS" poster of 1941, nicknamed the "blonde bombshell" recruitment poster. His work is recognised for its "striking colour, bold graphic ideas, and beautifully integrated typography".
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In arriving at a poster design, Games would render up to 30 small preliminary sketches and then combine two or three into the final one. In the developmental process, he would work small because, he asserted, if poster designs "don't work an inch high, they will never work." He would also call on a
295:. While Newbould produced rural images similar to the pre-war travel posters he had created for several railway companies, Games presented a set of three Modernist buildings that had been built to address poverty, disease and deprivation. The poster that annoyed Churchill most featured the
253:. Games had wanted to challenge the rather drab image of the ATS but the authorities feared that the glamorous image he had produced would encourage young women to join the ATS for the "wrong reasons" and the poster was quickly withdrawn. The design Games replaced it with was criticised by
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In
October 1945, Games married Marianne Salfeld, the daughter of German orthodox Jewish émigrés, and initially lived with her father in Surbiton, Surrey. In 1948, they moved to north London, and lived in the same house until their deaths. They had three children, Naomi, Daniel and Sophie.
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in London. Disillusioned by the teaching at Saint Martin's and worried about the expense of studying there, Games left after two terms. However, Games was determined to establish himself as a poster artist so while working as a "studio boy" for the commercial design firm
264:(1942) in which a spiral symbolising gossip originates from a soldiers mouth to become a bayonet attacking three of his comrades. Games used the photographic techniques he had learnt from his father in that and other posters such as
404:, and would often work to support Jewish and Israeli organisations. Games, who was Jewish, spent some time in Israel in the 1950s where, among other activities, he designed stamps for the Israeli Post Office, including for the
373:. Among his pioneering contributions was, in 1954, the first moving on-screen symbol of BBC Television. He also produced murals. Between 1946 and 1953, Games was a visiting lecturer in graphic design at London's
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for posters resulted in 100 or so posters. Games was allowed a great deal of artistic freedom which enabled him to produce many striking images, often with surrealist elements. Among his first designs was the
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large number of photographic images as source material. Purportedly, if a client rejected a proposed design (which seldom occurred), Games would resign and suggest that the client commission someone else.
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in London between 1932 and 1936, he attended night classes in life drawing. He was fired from this position due to his jumping over four chairs as a prank. In 1934, his entry was second in the
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superseding a ruined building with a child suffering from rickets. Churchill considered this nothing short of a libel on the conditions in
British cities and ordered the poster to be removed.
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At the start of World War Two, Games was conscripted into the
British Army. He served until 1941 when he was approached by the Public Relations Department of the
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born on the border of Russia and Poland. His father, who had emigrated to
Britain in 1904, anglicised the family name to Games when Abram was 12. Games left
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who were looking for a graphic designer to produce a recruitment poster for the Royal
Armoured Corps. From 1942 Games's service as the
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Games was also an industrial designer of sorts. Activities in this discipline included the design of the 1947 Cona
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In 1946, Games resumed his freelance practice and worked for clients such as Royal Dutch Shell, the
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Later in the War, Churchill ordered a poster Games had produced to be taken off the wall of the
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Games had been among the first in
Britain to see evidence of the atrocities committed at the
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campaign. In addition to his poster work, Games completed a number of commissions for the
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exhibition and taught a course in postage-stamp design. He also designed covers for
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Abram Games, Graphic
Designer (1914–1996): Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means
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The
Illustration Handbook: A Guide to the World's Greatest Illustrators
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441:, which was not put into production due to the demise of mimeography.
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964:"Abram Games and the power of the poster | National Army Museum"
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in 1937 led to several high-profile commissions for Games, from the
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exhibition organised by the
Association of International Artists.
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The Thames and Hudson
Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers
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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Vol 21 (Freudy-Gibberd)
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Marianne died in 1988; Games died in London on 27 August 1996.
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1035:(1990. South Glamorgan, UK: Institute of Higher Education) |
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Abram Games, Graphic Designer: Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means
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War paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain, 1939-1945
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144:(29 July 1914 – 27 August 1996) was a British
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for services to graphic design. In 1959, he was appointed a
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Posters by Abram Games on the Imperial War Museum website
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Designing the 20th Century: Life and Work of Abram Games
385:(RDI). He also designed the tile motif of a swan on the
997:"The art of persuasion: Wartime posters by Abram Games"
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The Art of Persuasion: War time posters by Abram Games
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Poster by Games advertising tourism for the island of
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1077:(2003. New York Princeton Architectural Press) |
1089:Poster Journeys: Abram Games and London Transport
707:Alan & Isabella Livingston (28 August 1996).
168:began in 1914, he was the son of Joseph Gamse, a
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369:(winning the 1948 competition) and for the 1965
907:"Poster girl of ATS joins National Army Museum"
197:and, in 1935, won a poster competition for the
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802:HCG Matthew & Brian Harrison, ed. (2004).
418:. In 1960, Games designed the poster known as
983:"Abram Games, the poster boy with principles"
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249:recruitment poster that became known as the
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549:Abram Games - Maximum Meaning Minimum Means
529:Abram Games, Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means
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649:British Posters of the Second World War
184:at the age of 16 and, in 1930, went to
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1136:Academics of the Royal College of Art
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854:"Exhibition 'Conquest Of The Desert'"
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16:British graphic designer (1914–1996)
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283:exhibition at Harrods in 1943. The
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1063:(2003. London: Lund Humphries) |
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743:Smith, David (30 September 2007).
565:, London: 6 April-24 November 2019
416:Reform Synagogues of Great Britain
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905:Kennedy, Maeve (23 August 2013).
745:"Poster Churchill pulped on show"
424:Food and Agriculture Organization
402:Give Clothing for Liberated Jewry
985:– via www.theguardian.com.
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398:Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
313:Poster Design in Wartime Britain
281:Poster Design in Wartime Britain
262:Your Talk May Kill Your Comrades
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1033:A. Games: Sixty Years of Design
981:Moore, Rowan (23 August 2014).
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877:Moore, Rowan (23 August 2014).
588:Souter, Nick and Tessa (2012).
555:Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, 2015
414:and prayer book prints for the
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293:Your Britain - Fight for It Now
274:War Artists' Advisory Committee
260:Other notable posters included
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1075:Abram Games: His Life and Work
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285:Army Bureau of Current Affairs
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1028:(1962. Zurich: Graphis Press)
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377:and in 1958, was awarded the
247:Auxiliary Territorial Service
1059:Moriarty, Catherine, et al.
483:advertising poster by Games.
186:Saint Martin's School of Art
77:Saint Martin's School of Art
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939:"Abram Games (1914 – 1996)"
830:. Go London. Archived from
806:. Oxford University Press.
406:1953 Conquest of the Desert
383:Royal Designer for Industry
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497:Blue plaque, 41 The Vale,
195:Health Council Competition
1161:English graphic designers
778:. Yale University Press.
647:Richard Slocombe (2014).
371:Queen's Award to Industry
172:photographer, and Sarah,
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1026:Who's Who in Graphic Art
710:"Obituary:Abraham Games"
533:The Minories, Colchester
481:British European Airways
1186:People from Whitechapel
1031:Gombrich, E.H., et al.
651:. Imperial War Museum.
592:. Oceana. p. 203.
426:of the United Nations.
365:and logos for the 1951
353:, London Transport and
257:as being too "Soviet".
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391:Stockwell tube station
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301:Finsbury Health Centre
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266:He Talked...They Died
232:(1941) Art.IWMPST2832
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199:London County Council
152:Early life and career
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1001:National Army Museum
563:National Army Museum
543:Jewish Museum London
450:National Army Museum
411:The Jewish Chronicle
375:Royal College of Art
182:Hackney Downs School
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774:Brain Foss (2007).
435:duplicating machine
431:vacuum coffee maker
420:Freedom from Hunger
393:in the late 1960s.
367:Festival of Britain
329:Festival of Britain
268:(1943) part of the
242:Official War Artist
207:General Post Office
834:on 26 January 2016
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309:Minister of Labour
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62:(1996-08-27)
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1024:Amstutz, W.
1006:22 November
859:22 November
725:15 February
627:14 November
545:, 2014–2015
513:Exhibitions
191:Askew-Young
166:World War I
162:Whitechapel
133:Abram Games
49:Whitechapel
25:Abram Games
1120:Categories
948:8 November
685:7 November
570:References
238:War Office
178:seamstress
41:1914-07-29
918:23 August
890:24 August
756:27 August
439:Gestetner
299:designed
73:Education
719:Archived
422:for the
347:Guinness
170:Latvian
117:Website
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838:27 May
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623:. 2003
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535:, 2011
466:Jersey
91:Spouse
355:El Al
156:Born
105:(
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1079:ISBN
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327:The
57:Died
31:Born
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379:OBE
359:JFS
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160:in
141:RDI
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
