Stamp Art: Abram Games

[Great Britain] (b 1914/d 1996)

" Abram Games attended St Martins School of Art in London but, disillusioned by the style of teaching and deterred by the high tuition fees, he soon left the art school. From 1932 until 1936, he worked as a "studio boy" at the London commercial design firm Askew-Young and was a photographer's assistant to his father. In 1935 Games submitted a poster of his own design to a poster competition held by the London City Council and won. From 1936 he freelanced as a graphic designer, creating posters for London Transport and Shell ; he then became official poster artist to the British War Office during the second world war and designed about a hundred propaganda posters. Working on those posters was what made Abram Games develop a distinctive style with which he succeeded in making a maximum statement with a minimum of means ("maximum meaning, minimum means"). (..) After the war, Abram Games again freelanced as a graphic artist, designing posters, advertisements, and logos for "The Financial Times", the BBC, British Airways, Guinness, London Transport, Shell, the United Nations, and El Al airline. (..) from 1946-53,Games was a visiting lecturer in graphic design at London's Royal College of Art; 1958, was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to graphic design and in 1959 was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI). In the 1950's (..) he was known to have spent some time in Israel where, among other activities, he designed stamps for the Israeli Post Office and taught a course in postage-stamp design. Abram Games also designed book covers for Penguin Books and, in 1951, the Festival of Britain emblem. He was one of the last designers of lithograph posters before this craft was replaced by the offset process. He died in London in 1996."

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Biography and Photo : www.dieselpunks.org

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Wikipedia

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www.abramgames.com

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nice Article about the Stamp Designing Course Taught by Abram Games (pdf)

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Great Britain 1948 "Olympic Games" (4,4,1) [Photo] Sc(272)