Etsy - Lampposted Vintage Gentle Art Of Making Guinness Poster
Description
This poster comes from a series drawn & painted by John Ireland in the manner of W Heath Robinson (WHR) for the 1981 Guinness calendar. These are not cut out from the calendar, but are likely advertising prints from the marketing department. Dimensions: 16 in x 11 in (41 cm x 28 cm) Condition: This poster has been trimmed from its original size for framing. Previous owner was going to frame but never got around to it. There are some watermarks on the poster, see photos. This print, Early Morning on the Guinness Farm shows detailed caricatures of men using a peculiar old tractor to harvest wheat with a collection of scythes & sickles spinning on a old wooden wheel. There's the epic accumulation of details, sprawling mechanical contrivances, elevated viewpoints & isometric perspective all conveyed in pitch-perfect mimicry of the much loved & non-threatening WHR style. John Ireland wrote about them, I had been asked a few years prior to 1980 to submit ideas for a Guinness Calendar but nothing came of it, & when I was asked to produce roughs for a W. Heath Robinson pastiche I was initially reluctant, suggesting I could do something in my own style. When it became obvious that they - J.Walter Thompson the advertising agency - were set on doing it their way, I decided that it was better I should do it rather than someone else mess it up & do Heath Robinson a disservice. There were similarities in our styles, which is presumably why I had been asked in the first place. I had been interested in his drawings since I was a child, having bought his books at jumble sales. The whole job went amazingly smoothly & following a guided tour of the Park Royal Brewery, it was left up to me to decide on which elements of production I should highlight. This is so unusual for advertising, normally you are presented with layouts that you have to stick to rigidly & all the copy has been written already. in this instance I even wrote the captions. My initial roughs were accepted with hardly any changes suggested. I only had to make the May drawing a little busier & ensure that wherever possible both bottled & keg beer should be depicted as apparently there was intense rivalry between the two divisions of the company. The barman in the December drawing is actually a portrait of Heath Robinson with his cat 'Saturday Morning' & the customer is my Father. The drawings do seem to have been popular, & I still get reports of sightings by friends as far afield as the USA & even deepest Russia. At the time of publication I also got a letter from Heath Robinson's son, saying how pleased they were with the results. Because of the age of these posters, there are areas of wear & tear, particularly on the edges. I have done my best to take photos where they are torn or stained. The good news is that when framed, the tears press up well against glass, & edges can be hidden by mats. Any wear picked up from years are part of the vintage charm. When framed these colourful &
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