Edwin Embleton (1907 – 2000) was a commercial and graphic designer who is widely recognised for his work in the Publications Division of the Ministry of Information during 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 ...

. His archive is located at the

University of Brighton Design Archives The University of Brighton Design Archives centres on British and global design organisations of the twentieth century. It is located within the University of Brighton Grand Parade campus in the heart of Brighton and is an international research r ...

Career

Early career

Born in Hornsey, London, Embleton studied at

Hornsey School of Art Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...

, finding work at a studio off Grays Inn Road, London. In 1924 he began work at

Odhams Press Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and th ...

as a layout and lettering artist before becoming Studio Manager.

World War Two

Embleton was seconded to the General Production Division of the Ministry of Information (MOI) at the outbreak of the

in 1939, where he became Art Director and Studio Manager. Embleton managed a team of up to seventy staff members including painters, designers, illustrators, layout artists, typographers, calligraphers, cartographers, and cartoonists. Graphic designers

Reginald Mount Reginald Mount (1906–1979) was a British graphic designer. Mount was born Edward Reginald Mount, on 4 July 1906. He worked as a designer for various advertising agencies in London in the 1930s, then joined the Ministry of Information at the o ...

and Eileen Evans reported to Embleton at this time. In charge of the graphic elements of all

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

, Embleton commissioned work from whichever artists and designers he chose. They created a vast range of high quality material, which played an important part in Britain's war effort at home and overseas. Subjects included the British forces, the Home Front and the Empire, including leaflets in Afrikaans, Arabic, Hausa, Persian, Swahili and Yoruba.

Post War

At the end of the war in 1945, Embleton returned to

, and was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

for his services to the war effort.Supplement to the

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 9 January 1946, p292

External links and further reading

*Imperial War Museum
collections listing - Edwin Embleton
*Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London
Edwin J Embleton papers
*Lomas, Elizabeth, ''Guide to the Archive of Art and Design, Victoria & Albert Museum'', Routledge, 2001, *National Archives - INF Records created or inherited by the Central Office of Information *Osley, Anthony, ''Persuading the People: Government Publicity in the Second World War'', Central Office of Information Publishing Services, 1995, *V&A, Archive of Art and Design - Edwin J Embleton, Ministry of Information collection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Embleton, Edwin 2000 deaths 1907 births Propaganda art English graphic designers