Description‘Herne Bay Pier’, 1947, was initially lithographed for J. Lyons and Co, who owned the Lyons’ Tea Houses in London. After the Second World War, in order to improve the interiors, the Tea Houses contracted famous artists – amongst them Bawden, Nash, Ardizzone, Minton (see Artists) – to produce a lithograph for their walls. These were also then sold separately to the general public, and ‘Herne Bay Pier’ soon became the bestseller in the series. And it is not difficult to see why. Here we are on holiday, in celebratory mood. There is all of life present: the couple ensconced under blanket, reading the paper; the young man in sartorial finery taking the air; the three beauties in the foreground; the many playing children; the dogs, crabs and the starfish. And all about the wind whips, churning the waves and catching the fishermen’s lines. And above the wind, even without the portrayal – for such is the evocative strength of this print – there’s the distinctly audible cry of an imaginary seagull.
