Bert Thomas and His Work: The Art of the Illustrator (Limited Edition Prints)
Medium: Limited edition Lithograph prints on Card
Size: 11" x 16" (279mm x 406mm)
Date: 1918
Code: Thomas6
This is a Limited edition collection of printss.
The Art of The Illustrator by Percy V Bradshaw was published by The Press Art School, Forest Hill, London 1918. In 1918 Percy Bradshaw contacted 20 of the leading illustrators of the day and commissioned each of them for a special illustration.
Each artist was given an entirely free hand as to subject, the only stipulation being that the painting or drawing should be representative of his/her technique and that each stage in its composition should be shown. Bradshaw then reproduced in 6 plates each step in the artistic process and published the 6 lithographs in a portfolio with a 12 page introduction and description of the process within a card folder.
Artists in this series are Lawson Wood, F.H. Townsend, Fortunino Matania, Harry Rountree, Claude A Shepperson, Bert Thomas, William Heath Robinson, Frank Reynolds, Cyrus Cuneo, William Russell Flint, Charles Brock, Spenser Pryse, Warwick Reynolds, Edmund Sullivan, Balliol Salmon, H.M. Bateman, Louise Wright, W Hatherell, Dudley Hardy and Bernard Partridge.
Highly sought after, these portfolios were a ground breaking idea and very popular at the time. A great way to discover the secrets and techniques of some of the worlds' greatest illustrators.
'Un Bon Camarade' is the litho-chalk drawing demonstrated by Bert Thomas, cartoonist of "London Opinion".
You might be interested in these related item(s):
Original issues of Bradshaw's ART OF THE ILLUSTRATOR(1918)
- Artist BiographyHerbert Samuel "Bert" Thomas MBE (13 October 1883 - 6 September 1966)
Bert Thomas was a political cartoonist contributing to Punch magazine and the creator of well-known British propaganda posters during the First and Second World Wars.
Thomas joined Punch in 1905 and contributed until 1935. During the First World War he was in the Artists Rifles.
Thomas' political cartoons started to be included in gallery exhibitions as artistic caricatures as early as 1913, in an exhibition on the Strand by the Society of Humorous Art and in 1916 his cartoon against the Clyde strikers with the Kaiser saying "pass friend" to a striker was a featured exhibit in an exhibition of war cartoons in the Graves Galleries on Pall Mall.
In 1918 he became nationally known for his cartoon "Arf a mo, Kaiser", drawn in ten minutes for the Smokes for Tommy Weekly Dispatch campaign. The cartoon raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds towards "comforts" (tobacco and cigarettes) for front line troops and the image was re-drawn and used during the Second World War with the caption "Arf a mo, 'itler". The Germans banned the "Arf a mo, 'itler" cartoon and to ensure British prisoners did not have their comfort parcels confiscated, he created a variation with the caption "Are we downhearted?"
Thomas was chosen by art instructor Percy V. Bradshaw as one of the artists to illustrate "The Art of the Illustrator", a celebrated collection of twenty portfolios demonstrating six stages of a single painting or drawing by twenty different artists and published in 1918.
He was made MBE in the 1918 Birthday Honours.
Thomas died at his home at 33 Inverness Terrace, Bayswater, London, on 6 September 1966, from a stroke. He was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
The sculptor Ivor Thomas (1873–1913) was his brother and his son Peter also drew cartoons for Punch.