Christmas Fare from the Empire - Making the Empire Christmas Pudding

Frederick Clifford Harrison 1901 - 1984

Summary

A woman wearing a coat, scarf, and hat unpacks her shopping. Surrounding her are an array of fruits including a pineapple, grapes, oranges and bananas. A calender in the background reads 24th December. Behind her is the basic outline of a window framed by curtains and a singular chair. This poster is from a series of five Empire Marketing Board posters on the theme of 'Christmas Fair from the Empire' (the series title). The other two posters from this series in the collection are 1935.733 and 1935.735. It is one of 222 Empire Marketing Board posters gifted to the Industrial Art Collection at Manchester Art Gallery by the Empire Marketing Board (EMB) in 1935. The EMB was established in May 1926 by the Conservative party politician Colonial Secretary Leo Amery. It was a key response to growing concern about the long-term prospects of the British economy. A distinctive feature of the EMB's work was its poster campaigns which were displayed in specially designed frames located outdoors in towns and cities throughout the UK. Five posters were shown in sequence conceived as a single linked concept. The poster campaigns were established to promote trade within the British Empire by persuading British customers to 'Buy Empire'.