Harrow School

This painting was produced as part of a series devoted to
Famous Public Schools on the LMS.

Harrow School was founded in 1571 by John Lyon, Yeoman of Preston, at the foot of the Hill, who received a charter for the purpose from Queen Elizabeth. The building shown above is the "Old Schools", standing in the School Yard, with terraced garden and approach steps in the foreground.

The Western (left hand) Wing was the original building and was designed to contain the entire teaching accommodation of the School, as well as the residence of the Head Master.

The remainder of the building was added as a "Lyon Memorial" in 1819, when both Oriel windows were inserted, the Western window being that of the original "Fourth Form Room", and the Eastern that of the first Speech Room.

Norman Wilkinson

Norman Wilkinson was a successful marine painter and illustrator. He was also responsible for developing the concept of “dazzle camouflage” for British warships during the First World War. But it was as a poster artist that he reached his highest artistic level. In 1905, Wilkinson was commissioned by the London and North Western Railways to produce a poster advertising their rail/steam link to Ireland. Recognising the opportunity to create a new approach to railway poster design, he depicted the product as just one element of a broader landscape.

It was the first time this had been done and its revolutionary concept was an important influence in the development of the pictorial poster. He went on to organise the celebrated commissioning of poster designs from members of the Royal Academy for the London Midland and Scottish Railway company in the 1920s. Wilkinson believed that art should play an important part in advertising. His posters were well-planned and executed in broad tones of colour with a skilful use of black to strengthen the design. He was, in his words, “the father and mother of the artistic poster on English railway stations”.