Lot 816
AFTER STANHOPE ALEXANDER FORBES, RA (1857-1947)
THE PERMANENT WAY
Colour poster (chromolithograph), printed for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, 1924, trimmed of title and accreditation at base
Image 77 x 115cm
* Forbes's admiration for the labours of the unheralded worker results in an atypical subject for him: there is nothing of the thrill or glamour of rail travel apparent here, only the relentless and monotonously arduous toil of the `navvies` laying track.
The LMS poster scheme, involving the submissions of 16 Royal Academicians, was devised by the artist Norman Wilkinson (who was a keen and accomplished poster artist himself). Photographs exist of Forbes standing trackside in a tweed coat, making sketches and observing the workers' routines. The resulting print is compositionally strong but seems to be an amalgamation of the artist's many quick studies from life. This one used to hang in a railway station waiting room.
