Conrad Atkinson's work frequently reflects the manipulation and abuse of ordinary working people by those in positions of power. The drug Thalidomide was responsible for the irreversible deformity of limbs and organs in unborn babies conceived between 1959 and 1961. Almost 20 years later some victims were still fighting for compensation from the manufacturers, The Distillers Company, whose profits were soaring. The Company possessed a royal warrant, which meant it could display a coat of arms on its products that advertised the fact that the royal family patronised it. The Queen Mother was Chancellor of University College, London. Atkinson was commissioned to produce a print for a portfolio to be presented to her on the occasion of the College's 150th Anniversary. He took this as an opportunity to expose the behaviour of the Company.
Physical description
colour offset lithographic print on paper, with additional colouring by hand
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (printed)
Date
1978 (printed)
Artist/maker
Conrad Atkinson, born 1940 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Colour offset lithograph on paper, with hand colouring
Marks and inscriptions
Conrad Atkinson
April '78
Dimensions
Height: 53.5 cm printed surface, Width: 43.5 cm printed surface, Height: 65.1 cm sheet, Width: 49.5 cm sheet
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Timmers, Margaret (ed), Impressions of the Twentieth Century: Fine Art Prints from the V&A's Collection, London, V&A Publications, 2001
The full text of the entry is as follows:
"Conrad Atkinson (born 1940)
Anniversary Print: From the People Who Brought You Thalidomide..., 1978
Hot off the press, Anniversary Print instantly became a cause célèbre, banned from exhibition at the as Serpentine Gallery, London, and both warmly defended and acidly prosecuted in the pages of the national press. The year 1978 was the 150th anniversary of the founding of University College, London, and the Slade School of Art (part of the college) commissioned a portfolio of prints from various artists to be presented to the Queen Mother, then Chancellor of the University. Atkinson took this as an opportunity to challenge the Royal family's continued patronage of the Distillers Company, the multi-national that marketed the drug Thalidomide, a cause of irreversible deformity of limbs and organs in babies conceived between 1959 and 1961. Almost twenty years later some victims were still fighting for compensation from the company, whose profits were soaring. The facts were public and well known, and there had been appeals to the Royal family to withdraw their warrant.
Atkinson's deeply egalitarian concerns prompted him to channel his art-school training into making installations addressing the manipulation and abuse of ordinary working people; in these he used real documents like pay slips, tele-printed stockmarket reports, photos and Super-8 film footage. As with many of his peers in the 1970s and 1980s, Atkinson saw prints as a vehicle for raising debate. He did not see his work as propaganda, inasmuch as the word has come to be associated with distortion or deception in the furtherance of a cause, but he was a master of irony and skillful in deploying other visual formats to this end. Anniversary Print suggests a poster in its line-up of seductive liquor bottles and, snuggled down among them, some framed promotional copy proclaiming Distaval (the brand name of Thalidomide) as a 'safe' drug. Set on a kind of penthouse window seat against the background of an idyllic rural scene (the Distillers factory base?) together with the London skyline, they appear both to rise from and dominate the capital. The bottles unwisely flaunt their Royal crests, which are circled by Atkinson's shrewd pencil. The text below, giving the story of Thalidomide, is quite legible but somehow suggests the 'small print', a legal requirement usually designed to be ignored, though here rather more gripping than the picture and impelling us to read what we would perhaps rather no know."
Production Note
The print was commissioned by the Slade School of art for an portfolio celebrating the 150th anniversary of University College, London, and to be presented to its then chancellor HRH The Queen Mother.
Materials
Paper; Watercolour; Colour printing ink
Techniques
Hand-colouring; Colour offset lithograph
Subjects depicted
Civil Rights; Royal patronage; Civil liberty; University College London; Alcoholic Beverages; Thalidomide; Distival; Physical deformity; The Distillers' Company
Categories
Prints; Politics; Health
Production Type
Limited edition
Collection code
PDP
