Performance is proof
Brochure
1930s (made)
1930s (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
84 unnumbered pages colour illustrations 206 mm. Spiral bound
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Performance is proof (published title) |
| Materials and techniques | ink and paper |
| Brief description | Performance is proof, with cover design by K.G. Chapman for Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd. Rembrandt Photogravure Ltd, 1934 |
| Physical description | 84 unnumbered pages colour illustrations 206 mm. Spiral bound |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Mass produced |
| Gallery label | Performance is proof
London, 1934
Many speed and distance records were broken in the 1930s. This booklet documented those achieved by vehicles using Shell-Mex petrol, asserting that Shell oils are also ‘for your car’. It depicts cars in action and record-breaking drivers. The Rembrandt Photogravure company produced high-quality photographic images, usually for art publications. Their rapid photogravure process allowed mass-production for magazines and catalogues.
Photogravure
Illustrated by K.G. Chapman (1908–33)
Photographs by Rembrandt Photogravure Ltd
Issued by Shell-Mex & B.P. Ltd
Museum no. 38041800898397(2018) |
| Object history | From a collection of examples of commercial printing and design including catalogues and books as well as a variety of ephemera such as magazine covers, promotional cards, loose sheets, book plates, book jackets, trade cards, advertisement proofs, wine labels, menu cards etc. Firms include Shell-Mex, Austin Reed, Guinness, Heals, Imperial Airways, Orient Line. Designers include McKnight Kauffer, El Lissitsky, Bawden, Bayer, Gill, Tschichold. Categories of material include architecture, broadcasting, costume, interior design, motor industry, food and drink. In 1936 the National Art Library decided to lay the foundations of a "collection of commercial typography and to exhibit contemporary specimens from time to time so that the trend of typographic design, both in this country and abroad, could be appraised by students of industrial art". The Keeper of the Library, Philip James was largely instrumental in acquiring the material. The bulk of the collection consists of examples from the 1930s, especially 1936 - 1939, with a smattering of items from the 1940s. The collection is further supplemented with material from the 1960s which the Library inherited from the Circulation Department of the Museum after its closure in 1978. As these two groups of material stand as historic collections in their own right, any further examples acquired by the Library have been catalogued individually and not added to this designated 'closed collection'. Currently uncatalogued. A typescript list is available on request at the Main Counter; this list does not include the material inherited from the Circulation Department. |
| Bibliographic reference | 'Modern Publicity', 1936-7, p. 79.
Cover of a booklet for Shell-Mex & B.P. Ltd., London, designed by K. G. Chapman of the Regent Advertising Service. |
| Other numbers |
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| Collection | |
| Library number | 38041800898397 |
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| Record created | April 15, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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