"Workless"
Poster
1910 (published)
1910 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Spencer Pryse is best remembered as a lithographer. The remarkable set of three posters - of which this is one - made for the British Labour Party election campaign of 1910 reveal him to have been not only a great humanitarian but also a skilled draughtsman. The posters were praised by the Labour Party at the time, and they enjoyed unprecedented elevation - for a poster - to the status of fine art when exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1914. Their enduring worth was further endorsed by reissue at the time of the 1929 election, and again as commercial stock in 1971. Impressions of the other two posters in this group are also in the V&A's collection (E.3139-1913 and 3140-1913).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | "Workless" (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph |
| Brief description | Gerald Eric Spencer Pryse. "Workless", 1910 |
| Physical description | Scene of unemployed men and women sitting and standing, industrial background. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Production type | Mass produced |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by the Labour Party |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | Spencer Pryse is best remembered as a lithographer. The remarkable set of three posters - of which this is one - made for the British Labour Party election campaign of 1910 reveal him to have been not only a great humanitarian but also a skilled draughtsman. The posters were praised by the Labour Party at the time, and they enjoyed unprecedented elevation - for a poster - to the status of fine art when exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1914. Their enduring worth was further endorsed by reissue at the time of the 1929 election, and again as commercial stock in 1971. Impressions of the other two posters in this group are also in the V&A's collection (E.3139-1913 and 3140-1913). |
| Associated objects |
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| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.3141-1913 |
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| Record created | December 16, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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