Medley (Robert)

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no.5 in the first series of ten Contemporary Lithographs, a pioneering project to make original art available to the masses, either as affordable art for the home or for display in schools and other public institutions. It was the combined brainchild of the young manager of the Zwemmer Gallery, Robert Wellington, the passionate educationalist, Henry Morris, the artist, John Piper, in particular amongst a circle of young contemporary artists, mostly from the Royal College of Art, and the specialist printers, Oliver Simon and Harold Curwen, of the Curwen Press. Unlike the high quality reproduction prints that Wellington had hitherto been selling at Zwemmer’s as a way of disseminating mainly continental modern art, these prints were auto-lithographs, created by the artists’ own hands as original multiples. Robert Medley (1905-1994), was a highly influential artist and teacher, trained principally at the Slade, relatively low key in his own self-promotion, but inspiring many in the post-war generation with his philosophical and socially aware approach to art to design, creating this composition specifically to engage with children.

colour-printed auto-lithograph, 520 x 780 mm. (20 1/2 x 30 3/4 in), [Artmonsky 5], .