Signed with the artist’s monogram and dated l.l.: JES / 1919
Inscribed EXHIBN BY A BIRMINGHAM GROUP / GASKIN, GERE, PAYNE, SOUTHALL & OTHERS in the upper margin. Inscribed JUNE 17 TO JULY 5TH– FROM 10 TILL 6, AT GALLERIES OF / ROYAL SOYOF ARTISTS NEW ST. in the lower margin.
Tempera on hessian, 85.5 by 63.5 cm (33 ¾ by 25 ins)

Provenance: Peter Nahum (the Leicester Galleries)

The Birmingham Group of Artist-Craftsmen had been founded in 1907 with the committed intention of furthering the ideas of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Southall’s co-founders included many of his close friends and associates, amongst them Arthur Gaskin, Charles March Gere, Henry Payne and Bernard Sleigh. This poster for the society’s second exhibition in 1919 is remarkable in its very survival, reminding of us of Southall’s interest in the more everyday, including contemporary fashion and design.