One of the National Trust's leading fine art venues, Upton House and Gardens, this month hosts a special collection of 20th Century Shell advertising art from the Golden Age of motoring - reflecting the time that art came out of the galleries and onto the roads of Britain.
The selection of posters and original artworks, on loan from the Shell Advertising Art Collection, will be at Upton, on the Oxfordshire-Warwickshire border, from 18 April 2014 - the first time this set of design treasures has been exhibited in the former country home of Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, who was Chairman of Shell for 25 years and son of the company’s founder, Marcus Samuel.
The 1930s marked the peak of creativity for Shell advertising, coinciding with the number of private cars on British roads reaching one million at the start of that decade. Under the direction of its new advertising manager, Jack Beddington, Shell ad campaigns took a new route, using subtle themes and catchy slogans to promote not just the product, but the joys and exhilaration of motoring, the hidden treasures of the British countryside and the extraordinary range of people who relied on Shell.
Upton’s exhibition is centred on one of these iconic campaigns: ‘These People Prefer Shell’. The campaign simply claimed that all sorts of people preferred and used Shell, from theatre-goers to gardeners: “Judges prefer Shell”; “Doctors prefer Shell”. But then so do actors and even footballers, who at the time were on £8 a week with £2 for a win.
Michelle Leake, Upton's Assistant Collections and Engagement Manager, said: ‘As a committed arts patron, both historical and contemporary, the Shell company's advertising, and especially its promotion of British artists, would have sat very well with Lord Bearsted during his time as Shell chairman in the 1920s and '30s. He was personally an extraordinary collector of historical and contemporary art.
"The ‘lorry bills’, as the posters were known, acted as a travelling picture gallery, taking art out onto British roads for everyone to appreciate. We feel all our visitors will enjoy the fascinating and often amusing story surrounding the creation of these artworks, especially those who are or were involved in the great evolution of motoring that took place in the Midlands, which was the heart of the motor industry.”
This collection of over 30 posters encompasses a wide range of artistic styles, both traditional and modernist, and employed artists with established reputations as well as promoting new talent such as Graham Sutherland and Ben Nicholson.
The exhibition, in the Squash Court Gallery, is part of an inventive rolling programme at Upton, displaying different genres of art and linking them to the Bearsted family story.
Opening times and dates for this Exhibition are on the website, as well as directions.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/uptonhouse
