We bought a large quantity of vintage posters at an auction recently…
… all the work of Frederic H K Henrion.
They have a wide range of dates and subject matter.
These examples were reprinted for an exhibition at Staffordshire Polytechnic in the 1980s. The Polytechnic was the first place to offer a graphic design course largely based upon the influence of Henrion.
They were reproduced in limited edition runs and many of them are actually signed by the artist.
F H K Henrion OBE was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1914. After studying & working in Paris, he emigrated to England in 1939, adopting British nationality in 1946.
During the 1940s & 50s, he worked for advertising agencies and publishers – and was Art Editor of Contact and Futura magazines. In 1951 he established the design consultancy, Henrion Design Associates.
He produced designs for numerous organisations such as the Festival of Britain, London Transport, IBM, KLM, BEA, BOAC, the British Ministry of Information, the US Office of War Information, Olivetti and Tate & Lyle.
He was art director at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London during the 1950s. The ICA was a platform for the emergence of The Independent Group – and for the development of a widespread pop sensibility during the 1960s.
His work often used elements of photo montage and collage. He pioneered the use of surrealist juxtapositions in the language of advertising and visual communications in Britain.
He was a respected spokesperson for his profession and his work won many international awards. He was awarded an OBE for his contributions to the Festival of Britain pavilions.
He was an influential teacher who lectured at the Royal College of Art (1955-65); was President of Alliance Graphique Internationale and Master of Faculty at Royal Designers for Industry (1972-73); and was Leader of the Faculty of Visual Communication at the London College of Printing (1976-79). In 1982 he became consultant at Henrion, Lund and Schmidt – corporate identity specialists.
The FHK Henrion Archive & Research Library can be found at University of Brighton, Faculty of Arts’ Design Archives. A book of his designs (one of the popular Antique Collectors’ Club series) has recently been published and is available at Amazon UK & Amazon USA
We’ve started a Flickr group for sharing images of Henrion’s work – have a look and share any that you have!
