A Rare 1928 Heal’s Mansard Gallery Poster for “An Exhibition of Old London Pots & Prints”

Heal's "Mansard Gallery" 
"An Exhibition of Old London Pots & Prints"
Large Four-Colour Lithographic Poster
The Dangerfield Printing Co Ltd
Published 1928

Measures:-
80 cm (high) x 54.5 cm (wide) (Framed)

A very striking original poster for 'An Exhibition of Old London Pots & Prints' at the Mansard Gallery (within Heal & Son's shop on Tottenham Court Road, London) from 13 April to 2 June [1928].

The poster is undated but the printer's reference at the bottom indicates "600-4-28" (April 1928(?)). The show is mentioned in the Connoisseur Magazine for April 1928. This design is appears to be unrecorded. It is signed within the print by the artists "J.S.F. del" and "R.W. scrip". The image of the potters at work with St Paul's Cathedral in the background seems to be very akin to the style of Albert Rutherston - but the initials do not correspond. Elements of the lettering, most notably on the banner held by the cherubs at the top, are very similar to the designs of Reginald John "Rex" Whistler (1905–1944) who produced posters for London Transport in the same year as here. The "R.W. scrip" corresponds to his initials.

This poster appears to be an extremely scarce (possibly unique) survival. It does not appear in Laurence Whistler and Ronald Fuller's catalogue raisonné of the artist's work ("The Work of Rex Whistler" [London, Batsford, 1960]). At the time of the poster's publication, Rex Whistler had very recently completed the Tate café mural and then travelled to Italy on a scholarship to the British School in Rome between April-August 1928. It may be for these reasons that the poster was not known, or because of its scarcity or, maybe, because of Rex Whistler's hectic schedule at the time. Also, because whoever did the lettering etc has only credited him or herself as "RW", it has made the designer obscure.

The Mansard Gallery was originally opened in 1917 by Sir Ambrose Heal beneath the mansard roof of his Tottenham Court Road department store (hence the gallery's name). The space hosted a number of avant garde contemporary exhibitions, as well as more conventional selling shows based on Sir Ambrose Heal's interests in connoisseur collecting and historical ephemera.