Empire Marketing Board Posters
Paperback / Softcover
Author: Esme Ward and Melanie Horton
Publisher: Scala Publishers Ltd
Dimensions: 12.7 cm x 7.5 cm x 1 cm
Pages: 34 (with 9 pull-out spreads)
About
Manchester Art Gallery holds a fascinating collection of artist-designed posters, commissioned by the British government's Empire Marketing Board between 1926 and 1933. The EMB's main function was to increase sales of Empire-grown and Empire-made goods throughout Great Britain, its Dominions and its Colonies. One aspect of its activities was a poster campaign that was designed to turn Britons into Empire-conscious consumers.
Over 200 posters were acquired by Manchester Art Gallery in the 1930s. At first highly valued as examples of industrial art, they were later lost and forgotten.
This book presents new research into this recently rediscovered collection and outlines some of the powerful stories that it tells. The posters' strong and seductive images illustrate the Empire's people, places and products. However, for a contemporary audience, the posters sometimes express uncomfortable beliefs and raise difficult questions about the legacies of the Empire today.
Orders for this book are fulfilled by the Manchester Art Gallery. Purchases support the collection.