{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O76701"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O76701/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT9548/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT9548/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AT9548","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM3914","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MX1388","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O76701/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O76701","accessionNumber":"E.2167-1946","objectType":"Poster","titles":[{"title":"Don't forget that walls have ears!","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"Careless Talk Costs Lives","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"Fougasse was art editor of the magazine <i>Punch</i> when World War Two broke out in 1939, and he offered his services free to the British Government. He produced propaganda material for almost every ministry, and his gossiping cartoon characters injected welcome humour into propaganda posters in February 1940. Their popularity set a new tone for official mass communication. Despite an extended and illustrious career as a cartoonist, illustrator and commercial poster designer, it is probably for his 'Careless Talk Costs Lives' posters, issued by the Ministry of Information for display in public transport, that he is best known. In this one the Adolf Hitler (the hated German Nazi leader) wallpaper motif provides a visually amusing graphic device for concealing the enemy, as well as enriching the joke.","physicalDescription":"'Don’t forget that walls have ears'; Portrait format poster printed in colours on a white ground, the image quite small in overall picture plane. Captioned in script below the illustration and then in larger letters at bottom of sheet 'Careless Talk Costs Lives'. The whole with a red border. Showing two women seated at a table having tea. The wallpaper behind them appears like a semi-abstract linear pattern of trees and curves but is in fact a repeat pattern of a caricature head of Hitler; Colour photo-lithograph on paper.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Fougasse","id":"A8020"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"printing ink","id":"x35423"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"colour lithography","id":"AAT190525"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Colour lithograph on paper","categories":[{"text":"Politics","id":"THES48908"},{"text":"Propaganda","id":"THES48902"},{"text":"Caricatures & Cartoons","id":"THES48983"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Posters","id":"THES252963"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AT9548","2006AM3914","2021MX1388"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC (VA)","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2G","shelf":"DR105","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"posters","id":"AAT27221"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United Kingdom","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1940","earliest":"1940-01-01","latest":"1940-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.2168-1946","id":"O76703"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.2169-1946","id":"O76709"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.2170-1946","id":"O76735"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.2171-1946","id":"O76738"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.2172-1946","id":"O76740"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.2173-1946","id":"O76744"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.2174-1946","id":"O76746"},"association":"Series"}],"creditLine":"Given by the Ministry of Information","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"30.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"20.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions 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":"Fougasse","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"lithography","position":"top left corner","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"top left corner; lithography"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Don't forget that walls have ears!'; Design by 'Fougasse' (Cyril Kenneth Bird); One of the series of 'Careless Talk Costs Lives' posters issued by the Ministry of Information during the Second World War; Great Britain; 1940.","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":"one of a set of eight images on the theme 'Careless Talk Costs Lives'.\n\nReason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Hitler, Adolf","id":"N1953"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Second World War","id":"V72"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Wallpaper","id":"AAT37366"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"War","id":"x35624"},{"text":"Propaganda","id":"AAT55539"},{"text":"Politics","id":"AAT55537"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.2167-1946"],"accessionNumberNum":"2167","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1946,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"V&A microfiche","id":"THES50288"},"number":"4/C12"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-13","availableToBook":false}}