(b.1914)
Born in Lowton, Lancashire, Eckersley was educated at Lords College,
Bolton, and Salford College of Art under Martin Tyas. He worked
in London as a graphic designer from 1934, in partnership with Eric
Lombers until 1940. He won the Heywood medal of merit in 1935, was
appointed teacher of poster design at the Westminster School of
Art in 1937 and taught there until 1939. He established his reputation
as a graphic designer during the Second World War, continuing to
design posters for public service agencies like the Ministry of
Information, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents,
and the General Post Office whilst a cartographer with the Royal
Air Force 1940-45.
He established a successful freelance graphic design practice
in 1945, working for various groups and concerns including London
Transport, the General Post Office, London Press Exchange, W.S.
Crawford, British Aluminium, the Royal Society for the Prevention
of Accidents and KLM. In 1948 he was awarded the Order of the
British Empire for services to British poster design. He was head
of the graphic design department at the London College of Printing
from 1957 to 1976. Designated Royal Designer for Industry in 1961
for his work in the field of graphics, Eckersley was elected RDI
in 1963, and awarded the Chartered Society of Designers Medal
in 1990. A member of AGI, Eckersley was represented by Artist
Partners Ltd in the 1950s.
Eckerlsley's working method was summarised in Art and Industry
in January 1947, where his work was described as ruthlessly scrapping
the 'non-essential, by the perfect mating of chosen word with
chosen picture, he wings the total message'. Ten years later Art
and Industry described Eckersley as a 'poster artist who knows
how to dispense with words'. He was a Fellow of the Society of
Industrial Artists, a Member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale,
Governor of Gravesend School of Art and Senior Lecturer at the
London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. His posters were widely
exhibited in America and on the continent.
Information taken from: Darracott, J. and Loftus, B.,
Second World War Posters, 1981, p.26; Amstutz, W. Who's
Who in Graphic Art, 1962 p.230; Livingston, A, and Livingston,
I., Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, 1992, p60;
http://www.artistpartners.com/mainpages/ap_retro.html;
Gowing, M., 'What Made the Umbrella Weep, Mr. Eckersley?', Art
and Industry, Vol. 42, No.247, January 1947, pp.2-7; Gowing,
M., 'The Creative Mind in Advertising: Tom Eckersley OBE', Art
and Industry, Vol. 63, No. 377, November 1957, pp.158-163;
180.
Related texts: Eckersley, T,. Poster Design, 1954x}
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