Laura Freeman Laura Freeman

Looking at Barnett Freedman makes me weep at the government’s dismal graphics

The posters of this magician lithographer were direct and diverting, clear and eccentric, as a lovely exhibition at Pallant House shows

Lithographical magic: Barnett Freedman’s London Transport poster from 1936. Credit: © Barnett Freedman Estate 
issue 15 August 2020
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  • Barnett Freedman: Designs for Modern Britain

    Pallant House Gallery, until 1 November

Among the spoils of a lockdown clear-out was a box of my grandmother’s books: Woolf, Austen, Mitford and The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear with a jacket by Barnett Freedman. You only need to see a corner of the cover — a stippled trompe-l’oeil scroll — to recognise the artist.

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