Stuart's Advertising Agency was, during the 1920s and 1930s, one of the leading

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

advertising agencies.{{Cite book , last=Jarvis , first=Paul , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVJpCAAAQBAJ&newbks=0 , title=Better by Design: Shaping the British Airways Brand , date=2015-04-15 , publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited , isbn=978-1-4456-4296-3 , language=en Located at Kingsway House, Kingsway, the firm was founded in 1922 by

H. Stuart Menzies Hugh Stuart Menzies (18861959) was a British advertising executive. Born in London, in 1922 he set up the Stuart Advertising Agency that worked with contemporary artists of the time such as Edward Bawden, Edward McKnight Kauffer, Ben Nicholson, a ...

. It had accounts with

Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929, s ...

Keiller's marmalade Keiller's marmalade is named after its creator James and Janet Keiller (nee Mathewson, 1737-1813), and is believed to have been the first commercial brand of marmalade in Great Britain. It was made by James Keiller in Dundee, Scotland, later cr ...

Shell-Mex & BP Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a British joint venture between petroleum companies Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) and BP. It was formed in 1932 when both companies decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations,Reference and contact details: GB ...

Speedwriting Speedwriting is the trademark under which three versions of a shorthand system were marketed during the 20th century. The original version was designed so that it could be written with a pen or typed on a typewriter. At the peak of its popularity ...

Crosse & Blackwell Crosse & Blackwell is a British food brand. The original company was established in London in 1706, then was acquired by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell in 1830. It became independent until it was acquired by Swiss conglomerate Nestlé in 1960. ...

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passenger ...

, Indian Trans-Continental Airways, Lewis Berger Paints,

Toblerone Toblerone ( , ) is a Swiss chocolate brand produced in Bern. Toblerone is known for its distinctive shape, a series of joined triangular prisms and lettering engraved in the chocolate. Since 2012, the brand has been owned by US company Mondele ...

and

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

. Menzies retired in 1938-39 and moved first to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

and later to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with his wife Elizabeth.

Employees

Marcus Brumwell joined the firm in the early 1920s and became Managing Director when Menzies retired. Two other influential figures in the organisation in the late 1930s were D Lewis and the typographer/copywriter Robert Harling. While Menzies was an exceptional copywriter, Brumwell played a key role in liaising with leading contemporary artists of the time:

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, Order of Merit, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract art, abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life. Background and training Nicholson was ...

Edward McKnight Kauffer Edward McKnight Kauffer (14 December 1890 – 22 October 1954) was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator a ...

and

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadi ...

Recognition

Stuart Advertising Agency is featured in the book ''Bright Ties Bold Ideas - Marcus Brumwell, Pioneer of C20 Advertising, Champion of the Artists'' by Joe Brumwell published in 2010 and entertaining a la carte by Mainstone Press, 2007.

References

Advertising agencies of the United Kingdom