Bruce Angrave (6 December 1912 – 8 July 1983) was an English illustrator and poster artist. He designed many posters for the large railway companies, as well as posters and cartoons for Ministry of Information during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

Angrave was born on 6 December 1912, in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England, son of graphic designer and photographer Charles F. Angrave and Elsie, née Letts, living in

Westcotes Westcotes is an area to the west of the city of Leicester. It is also a ward of the City of Leicester whose population at the 2011 census was 11,644. It is also known as the West End of Leicester. The area is quite small in comparison with other ...

. He was a cousin of Trafford Smith, Governor of Malta. His father was a lithograph artist and he was educated by Austin Cooper at Reimann School of Art and Design. He also studied at the

Chiswick School of Art The Chiswick School of Art, sometimes called the Chiswick School of Art and Science, was an art school in Bath Road, Bedford Park, London, from 1881 until 1899, which was then merged into the Acton and Chiswick Polytechnic. In 1928, it became the Ch ...

in Bedford Park and the

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

, London. As well as Cooper, Angrave took influence from

Tom Eckersley Tom Eckersley (30 September 1914 – 4 August 1997) was an English poster artist and teacher of design. Early career Tom Eckersley was born on 30 September 1914 in Lancashire. His artistic training began in 1930 when he enrolled at Salford ...

Lewitt-Him Jan Le Witt (1907–1991) was a Polish-born British abstract artist, graphic designer and illustrator. He had a long professional partnership with George Him. As a design company, Lewitt-Him brought an innovative use of colour, abstraction and ...

and

Abram Games Abram Games (29 July 191427 August 1996) was a British graphic designer. 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 desi ...

. Angrave was commissioned by the main railway companies to create posters in the 1930s, as well as

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

in the 1950s. One of his posters, advertising "

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

: Cornwall's finest Atlantic resort" for

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

sold for £3,000 in New York in 2014. It was believed that the poster had been created in 1932, when Angrave was still a teenager. Dr Bex Lewis explains that " ngravebelieved that a poster should be approved or discarded within two seconds, and disapproved of the 'conference table' method." Around this time he was working at the London Press Exchange, where he would remain until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where he would draw cartoons and design posters for the Ministry of Information. Angrave was a member of the Society of Industrial Artists and

Art and Industry Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

described Angrave's work as ‘clear, uncluttered line, reduced everything to the simplest possible terms, and invests his work with gaiety and derisive wit that is unmistakable’. After the war, Angrave held an exhibitions of his work, including drawings he had produced for various books and journals, as well as sculptures in paper and wood and his many posters. The exhibition ran from 9–23 May 1946 at

Foyles W & G Foyle Ltd. (usually called simply Foyles) is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in England. It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as the ...

book store in London. Bruce Angrave also contributed cat based cartoons for many years to the UK magazine ''

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

''. These cartoons were always cat based and a skit/pun on some feline aspect. For example, Claw-dius was accompanied by a drawing of a cat wearing a toga. The cartoons were published as selected works in three books: * * * Angrave died on 8 July 1983. Angrave's work was displayed in the

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Institute Galleries in 2016 "The Body Extended: Sculpture and Prosthetics" exhibition. He was a member of the Society of Industrial Artists.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angrave, Bruce 1912 births 1983 deaths Artists from Leicester English illustrators