ZERO (HANS SCHLEGER, 1898-1976)
187
●
NATIONAL ASSETS / BE SPARING IN THEIR USE. Circa 1940.
29x36 inches, 73
3
/
4
x91
1
/
2
cm. Haycock Press, London.
Condition B / B+: tape on verso along tear through upper edge into image; tears and pin holes at edges;
creases and abrasions in margins and image. Paper.
During the Second World War the British government wanted the public to keep use of telephone and
telegraph to a minimum to ensure the lines were free when needed for war work, so they generated a
series of posters to that effect. Here, Zero has wrapped the bottom of a telegraph around telephone
lines. It is a somber message on a serious topic, yet he adds a little bird displaced from his roost to
remind the public that hope still exists.
[400/600]
A.R. (MONOGRAM UNKNOWN)
188
●
POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK. Circa 1942.
29x36 inches, 73
3
/
4
x160 cm. Haycock Press, London.
Condition B: tape on verso along tear at left edge into image; tears, losses and pin holes at edges; creases and
abrasions in margins and image and along vertical fold; sharp folds in upper corners. Paper.
In the darkest days of the Second World War, the General Post Office (GPO) commissioned different
artists to work on a campaign aimed at getting citizens to deposit their money in the postal bank, from
which the funds were used to help finance the war effort. By “making your money provide the driving
power”(which was the slogan of the whole campaign), citizens could concurrently save while supporting
the government’s military cause. This dramatic image shows a steel foundry at night, with what are
perhaps air raid spotlights punctuating the darkness to intensify the war-time atmosphere. The only
color in the poster is the recently-forged, still glowing-hot barrel of a giant gun. IWM PST 16466.
[500/750]
188
I...,145,146,147,148,149,150,151,152,153,154 156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,165,...214