![Johnston;Edward;, Suggestion for [an] Electric Tube sign Johnston;Edward;, Suggestion for [an] Electric Tube sign](images/CSM/medium/F.77.jpg)
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| Title | Suggestion for [an] Electric Tube sign' for Shell | |
| Maker | Johnston;Edward; | |
| Date | 1925 | |
| Description | The only visual evidence for Johnston's one venture into the unusual medium of the neon tube. Like much of Johnston's work for commerce -- including the well-known Underground alphabets -- it was commissioned by his friend, co-editor on The Imprint, and `agent' Gerard Meynell. In July 1921 we find Johnston working on drawings of the `Shell sign' and being paid first £5 5s., `to be made more if it comes off' and another £5 5s. a couple of weeks later; four years later, in December 1925, Meynell pays him another £15 15s. for his work for Shell. Overall, this must have been a fairly important job, albeit one apparently never put into production, and it is interesting to have news of a job that associated Johnston with Shell in the twenties by when the company had begun to build up a reputation with artist-designed posters and memorable press advertisements. | |
| Accession Number | F.77 | |
| Provenance | Sotheby's; Sam Fogg; A. Creed | |
| Rights | University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins Museum and Study Collection | |
| Technique | Ink and watercolour on paper | |
| Type | Fine Art | |