Not currently on display at the V&A

Jamie Reid archive

Postcard
1977 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This promotional postcard is for the last single from the Sex Pistols while Johnny Rotten (b. 1956) was still singer with the band. Released two weeks before the Never Mind the Bollocks... album, Rotten would leave the band less than four months later. The artwork was based on a real Belgian tourist brochure, with the speech bubbles edited to include the lyrics of the song.. The travel company later sued the Pistols resulting in a court case, and the single was re-issued in a plain white sleeve.

Jamie Reid's (1947-2023) cut-and-paste aesthetic developed from his interest in radical politics. His artistic style developed while at art college in Croydon, where he was influenced by the ideas of the avant-garde political group, the Situationist International. The political slant to his art was aroused by the May 1968 Paris student riots, which inspired fraternal protests organised by Reid at the Croydon College of Art. These were directed with fellow student Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010), later to become the manager of the Sex Pistols.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleJamie Reid archive (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Printed ink on card
Brief description
Illustrated promotional postcard for Sex Pistols' single "Holidays In the Sun", 1977. Jamie Reid archive
Physical description
Promotional postcard for Sex Pistols' single, Holidays In the Sun. Illustrated colour picture of a man and woman by some architecture, with a speech bubble. Obverse features details of the song.
Dimensions
  • Height: 9cm
  • Width: 13.7cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • A CHEAP HOLIDAY / IN OTHER / PEOPLES MISERY
  • SeX PiSTOLS / holidays in The Sun
  • Transliteration
Subjects depicted
Summary
This promotional postcard is for the last single from the Sex Pistols while Johnny Rotten (b. 1956) was still singer with the band. Released two weeks before the Never Mind the Bollocks... album, Rotten would leave the band less than four months later. The artwork was based on a real Belgian tourist brochure, with the speech bubbles edited to include the lyrics of the song.. The travel company later sued the Pistols resulting in a court case, and the single was re-issued in a plain white sleeve.

Jamie Reid's (1947-2023) cut-and-paste aesthetic developed from his interest in radical politics. His artistic style developed while at art college in Croydon, where he was influenced by the ideas of the avant-garde political group, the Situationist International. The political slant to his art was aroused by the May 1968 Paris student riots, which inspired fraternal protests organised by Reid at the Croydon College of Art. These were directed with fellow student Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010), later to become the manager of the Sex Pistols.
Collection
Accession number
S.916-1990

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Record createdMay 18, 2009
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