Freedman’s cover on Siegfried Sassoon's book (top image)
Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, 1931
Design WeekPeople were at the heart of Freedman’s work. Freedman’s first major commission was to design and illustrate Siegfried Sassoon’s book Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1931) for publishers Faber & Faber. He went on to illustrate dozens of book covers for classic novels by Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Leo Tolstoy, plus War and Peace (1938) and Anna Karenina (1951).
When WW2 started, Freedman was appointed Official War Artist. He travelled with the British Expeditionary Force in France with artists Edward Ardizzone and Edward Bawden. In 1941 he worked on-board HMS Repulse, producing a popular print for the National Gallery. In Jun 1944 he went to France to record the results of the D-Day Landings.
Freedman was awarded a CBE in 1947 and made Royal Designer for Industry in 1949: book illustration, printmaking and graphic design.
Barnett Freedman was one of Britain’s most sought-after commercial designers in the mid-C20th. So here are five reasons to learn more about Barnett Freedman in 2020.
1. It took Barnett Freedman three attempts to win a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, eventually getting one when Principal William Rothenstein intervened on his behalf. Rothenstein painted a portrait of Freedman in 1925, Freedman’s final year at the college.
2. Freedman was a respected, pioneering printmaker and a master of lithography i.e printing where the image is drawn on a flat stone in a greasy substance eg wax crayon which repelled ink, allowing it to then be absorbed into the untreated surface. Although a complex process, lithography allowed artists direct control over the marking process, making it an attractive & challenging medium to develop his draughting skill and his expressive use of colour.
3. In 1935 Freedman was commissioned to design postage stamps to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of George V, one of the most used everyday designs in the country. He produced the final artwork on stone, even though he knew that the end product was to be printed by photogravure (i.e an image produced from a photographic negative transferred to a metal plate then etched). During its run, a million King’s Stamps were sold across the world.
Collection London Transport Museum
4. Barnett Freedman was an official war artist, alongside Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Eric Ravilious and Evelyn Dunbar. The 15-Inch Gun Turret, HMS Repulse, Aug 1941, was painted after the artist’s time aboard the cruiser HMS Repulse. It showed the claustrophobic environment and the intricate relationship between the officers, crew and guns. Freedman made it into a lithograph for the Ministry of Information, displayed in service and factory canteens.
Freedman was shocked by the ship’s destruction in Dec 1941, soon after Pearl Harbour was attacked. The portraits he painted of the crew were warm and intimate, showing the individuality of each man. They formed a moving tribute to the men who served, and died in WW2.
![]()
Freedman, Street Scene, 1947
Colour lithograph on paper
Freedman was shocked by the ship’s destruction in Dec 1941, soon after Pearl Harbour was attacked. The portraits he painted of the crew were warm and intimate, showing the individuality of each man. They formed a moving tribute to the men who served, and died in WW2.
Colour lithograph on paper
V & A
5. In post-war Britain, art became a way of reflecting the new optimism. Print-making, especially Freedman’s preferred medium of lithography, became an important tool in bringing art to the people. Prints could be made more affordable and available, so he was bringing art out of galleries and into everyday life.
The Lyons Lithographs was designed to brighten the tired interiors of the popular Lyons tea rooms. Freedman became the project’s technical director, drawing up a list of artists that included several of his fellow war artists. Freedman himself contributed 3 lithographs, including People. The prints celebrated the best of Britain, tapping into the public’s interest in scenes of everyday life.
The managing director of Guinness in the early 1950s was Sir Hugh Beaver. Beaver realised that in pubs across the country, people were debating facts that could not be settled by standard reference books. So The Guinness Book of Records was born. To promote it, Guinness decided to publicise it with original prints to be displayed and sold in the pubs. Freedman oversaw the campaign, and created a lithograph for the project himself (1955).
Freedman died in his studio of a heart attack in 1958 at 56. His work had reflected the optimism of mid-century Britain and blurred the line between art and design. He was part of a generation of artists who forever altered the face of design in modern Britain. His art could be seen by anyone in their everyday life: from book jackets to posters on the London Underground, and beer advertisements in pubs. And he worked with famous clients like Ealing Studios, London Transport, Lyons’ Tea Houses and more.
![]()
Freedman, Shell poster, 1952
Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections
Discover more of his work in the current Pallant House Gallery exhibition: Barnett Freedman: Designs for Modern Britain until 1st Nov 2020. Or order the exhibition catalogue at Pallant Bookshop.
5. In post-war Britain, art became a way of reflecting the new optimism. Print-making, especially Freedman’s preferred medium of lithography, became an important tool in bringing art to the people. Prints could be made more affordable and available, so he was bringing art out of galleries and into everyday life.
The Lyons Lithographs was designed to brighten the tired interiors of the popular Lyons tea rooms. Freedman became the project’s technical director, drawing up a list of artists that included several of his fellow war artists. Freedman himself contributed 3 lithographs, including People. The prints celebrated the best of Britain, tapping into the public’s interest in scenes of everyday life.
The managing director of Guinness in the early 1950s was Sir Hugh Beaver. Beaver realised that in pubs across the country, people were debating facts that could not be settled by standard reference books. So The Guinness Book of Records was born. To promote it, Guinness decided to publicise it with original prints to be displayed and sold in the pubs. Freedman oversaw the campaign, and created a lithograph for the project himself (1955).
Freedman died in his studio of a heart attack in 1958 at 56. His work had reflected the optimism of mid-century Britain and blurred the line between art and design. He was part of a generation of artists who forever altered the face of design in modern Britain. His art could be seen by anyone in their everyday life: from book jackets to posters on the London Underground, and beer advertisements in pubs. And he worked with famous clients like Ealing Studios, London Transport, Lyons’ Tea Houses and more.
Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections
Discover more of his work in the current Pallant House Gallery exhibition: Barnett Freedman: Designs for Modern Britain until 1st Nov 2020. Or order the exhibition catalogue at Pallant Bookshop.