Stow tools safely - think of the man below
Poster
1942 (made)
1942 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, or RoSPA, began life as the London "Safety First" Association in the final days of the First World War, in response to an increase in road traffic accidents caused by the blackout. The National Safety First Association was formed from an integration of other similar organisations developed in other metropolitan areas of Britain. The Association produced cinema advertisements, posters and safety literature throughout the 1920s and '30s, and during World War II, commissioning a series of accident prevention posters which were aimed at factory workers, sanctioned by the Ministry of Labour. Eckersley articulated the need for a coherent language of design, based on simplicity and clarity of meaning. During World War II, Eckersley was RoSPA's most productive designer . He would develop ideas whilst working as a cartographer for the RAF, elaborating and refining the composition in his studio each evening.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Stow tools safely - think of the man below (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph |
| Brief description | Safety at work poster produced by RoSPA, designed by Tom Eckersley, and printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd, United Kingdom, 1942 |
| Physical description | Poster encouraging safety at work depicting the figure of a man casting a shadow, and standing below a hammer and nails balanced on a high shelf. At the top of the poster is the slogan in large black letters, ‘Stow tools safely’, and below the image, ‘Think of' in black, and in brown 'the man below'. The artist has signed himself, 'Eckersley '42' along the left-hand edge of the image, which is funnel-shaped. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Gift of the American Friends of the V&A; Gift to the American Friends by Leslie, Judith and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, or RoSPA, began life as the London "Safety First" Association in the final days of the First World War, in response to an increase in road traffic accidents caused by the blackout. The National Safety First Association was formed from an integration of other similar organisations developed in other metropolitan areas of Britain. The Association produced cinema advertisements, posters and safety literature throughout the 1920s and '30s, and during World War II, commissioning a series of accident prevention posters which were aimed at factory workers, sanctioned by the Ministry of Labour. Eckersley articulated the need for a coherent language of design, based on simplicity and clarity of meaning. During World War II, Eckersley was RoSPA's most productive designer . He would develop ideas whilst working as a cartographer for the RAF, elaborating and refining the composition in his studio each evening. |
| Associated object | E.1875-2004 (Duplicate) |
| Other number | LS.1991 - Leslie Schreyer Loan Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.263-2004 |
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| Record created | April 27, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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