{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O140977"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140977/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O140977","accessionNumber":"E.254-2006","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Fairground","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Barbara Jones was one of several artists involved in the Recording Britain scheme who also provided work for School Prints. Besides watercolour paintings she also painted murals on P&O cruise-liners (S.S.Orcades, S.S.Oronsay, S.S.Orsova, S.S.Oriana) between 1948 and 1960, and for hotels, restaurants, exhibitions and schools. Her surviving work, though, is in the form of book and dustjacket illustrations, including the Woodentops children's fictional characters.\r\n\r\nSet up in 1945 by Brenda Rawnsley, the School Prints scheme commissioned well-known artists to create lithographs, which would then be printed in large numbers and sold cheaply to schools for display in classrooms; the aim was to give 'school children an understanding of contemporary art'. Each lithograph had a drawn frame so that the print could be pinned to the wall. In the spirit of post-war optimism, artists responded enthusiastically. The scheme was a unique attempt at giving children access to original works of art in a period of austerity but ended in 1949 because of financial problems. Many of the prints depict a familiar world of everyday rural or urban life, some presenting a version of the pastoral idyll and others scenes of entertainment or leisure.","physicalDescription":"Colour lithograph showing a fairground with a brightly-coloured, ornately decorated merry-go-round in the foreground, featuring cockerels and horses. A second ride (dragons) can be seen behind and to the left a man with a stall of coconuts shouts to advertise his coconut shy. In the lower right corner a woman and two young children stand watching the  merry-go-round. Around the image is a printed 'frame', consisting of ivy leaves around a pole against an orange background and with a blue outer edge.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Jones, Barbara","id":"A2237"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Baynard Press","id":"A5935"},"association":{"text":"printer","id":"x30811"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"School Prints Ltd.","id":"A20637"},"association":{"text":"commissioned by","id":"x28662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"lithography","id":"AAT53271"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Colour lithograph","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2G","shelf":"DR112","box":"MP343"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1945","earliest":"1945-01-01","latest":"1945-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Frances Marks","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"497","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"760","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"S.P.2. Published by School Prints Ltd.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Bottom right margin"},{"content":"Barbara Jones","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Bottom left of image, artist signature"},{"content":"SKILL","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"on sign by coconut shy"},{"content":"PRAIRIE HORS[ES]","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Abover carousel"},{"content":"2","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On sign next to coconut shy"}],"objectHistory":"Gift of Frances Marks, from her late father's collection","historicalContext":"School Prints series was published in the 1940s. The idea behind the series was to commission established artists to create lithographs which could be editioned in very large numbers and sold cheaply to schools, for display in corridors, classrooms and assembly halls. The pupils would enjoy direct contact with new works of art. The entrepreneur, Mrs Brenda Rawnsley, wrote: 'We are producing a series of auto-lithographs, four for each term, for use in schools, as a means of giving school children an understanding of contemporary art.'\r\n\r\nIn the spirit of post-war optimism, the artists responded enthusiastically, and submitted sketches to the selection committee, chaired by Herbert Read, which included influential R.R. Tomlinson, London County Council Senior Inspector of Art. Many of the prints depict a familiar world of everyday rural or urban life, some presenting a version of the pastoral idyll (John Nash 'Harvesting') and others scenes of festivity (Barbara Jones 'Fairground'), entertainment (L.S. Lowry 'Punch and Judy') or leisure (John Tunnard's surrealist 'Holiday'). Each lithograph had a drawn frame around the image so that the print could be pinned to the wall.","briefDescription":"Colour lithograph, 'Fairground', Barbara Jones, School Prints series; London, 1945","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"carousel horses","id":"x31670"},{"text":"dragons","id":"x30096"},{"text":"coconut shy","id":"x41292"},{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"},{"text":"children","id":"x31526"},{"text":"man","id":"x35641"},{"text":"fairground","id":"AAT8171"},{"text":"cockerels","id":"x30202"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.254-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"254","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"School Prints number","id":"THES57274"},"number":"SP2"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2007-11-26","availableToBook":false}}