The Stanley Spencer Gallery was packed out last night (Friday)  for a fascinating talk about political and social changes during the Second World War, the period when Stanley Spencer was painting the ‘Shipbuilders on the Clyde’ series, currently on show in the Gallery.

 

It was given by Dr Paul Rennie, Head of Context at Central St Martins school of art in London, and he used a superb selection of posters and art works to show how they were used for propaganda and social awareness.    Spencer’s ‘Burners’ had been turned into a poster to go in canteens and halls to encourage the ‘common’ man and woman to work hard for the War Effort.

 

We learnt not only about the use of such art, but about the processes involved in the printing and the damage done to the industry in the wartime period and why so few of these posters have survived.  We will all be on the lookout now for rare posters which could make us a fortune!