{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O133803"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O133803/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP1099/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP1099/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BP1099","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O133803/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O133803","accessionNumber":"E.86-1970","objectType":"Oil Painting","titles":[{"title":"The Park Keeper, Custodian of Our Open Spaces","type":""},{"title":"London Characters","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Portrait of a park keeper seated on a grassy mound in open countryside, with a clear sky above, his head turned to the viewer. He is wearing a long brown-coloured suit jacket and bowler-shaped hat and holds a walking stick in his left hand.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cox, Elijah Albert","id":"A19236"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BP1099"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES304873"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1920","earliest":"1920-01-01","latest":"1920-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.87-1970","id":"O687845"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.524-1921","id":"O705540"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"76.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"50.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurement taken at time of assessment prior to BH decant - Frame Dimensions (mm): H-805 W-547 D-33;\nPainting Dimensions (mm): not measured"}],"dimensionsNote":"Measurements taken from: \r\n<u>Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing</u>. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'E. A. Cox'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed by the artist"}],"objectHistory":"This is the original design for a poster in the series 'London Characters' issued by the Underground Electric Railways Co. of London Ltd. Printed by The Avenue Press, Lupcott, Gill & Son, 24 July 1920.\n\nHistorical significance: Elijah Cox (1876-1955) studied art at Whitechapel People's Palace and at Bolt Court Technical School (later the London College of Printing, now the London College of Communication). He became a mural painter, poster artist and illustrator, producing posters for railway and shipping companies and for the Empire Marketing Board. \r\n\r\nIn 1920 Cox was commissioned to produce a series of posters for the Underground Electric Railway Company on the theme of 'London Characters'. This is his original design for the poster 'The Park Keeper - Custodian of Our Open Spaces'. Other characters in the series include the conductor ('at your service always'), the waterman, the zoo keeper, the coster, the Billingsgate fish-porter, the Covent Garden porter, the race goer, the flower woman, the news boy and the yokel ('our country routes serve you as well as him'). A collection of these posters and many of Cox's original designs for them are in the London Transport Museum. \r\n\r\nIt was relatively unusual for poster designs to be in the medium of oil paint; watercolour, pen and ink or gouache were generally used for this purpose because of the clean, graphic effect which they produced when reproduced. As a result of Cox's unusual choice of medium, the bold painterly effect of these posters, when reproduced as colour lithographs, is striking. \r\n\r\nThis painting, along with a copy of the poster for which it is a design (E.87-1970), was transferred to the V&A from the Bethnal Green Museum in 1970.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'The Park Keeper, Custodian of Our Open Spaces'. Oil painting by Elijah Albert Cox, the design for a poster in the series 'London Characters' issued by the Underground Electric Railways Co. of London Ltd., 1920.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Summary Catalogue of British Posters to 1988 in the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Department of Design, Prints & Drawing</u>. Emmett Publishing, 1990. 129 p. ISBN: 1 869934 12 1"}],"production":"The resulting poster was issued by the Underground Electric Railways Co. of London, Ltd. in 1920.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"parks (recreation areas)","id":"AAT8187"},{"text":"park keeper","id":"x46444"},{"text":"man","id":"x35641"},{"text":"trees","id":"AAT132410"},{"text":"walking stick","id":"AAT221268"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.86-1970"],"accessionNumberNum":"86","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1970,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-10-12","recordCreationDate":"2007-04-11","availableToBook":true}}