[John SEWELL] [Psychedelia - 4 original drawings]

November 23, 2021

Rare Books, Documents, Photos, and Artwork

Lot 146

[John SEWELL] [Psychedelia - 4 original drawings]

Estimate: $120 - $180

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About this Lot

Description

[PSYCHEDELIA]. - John SEWELL [Psychedelia - a small collection of 4 original drawings]

Offered for sale by Adam Langlands of 'Shadowrock Rare Books' - for more information please contact him via email at adamlanglands@gmail.com

John SEWELL (1925-1981, artist, illustrator, film-maker, poet and author).[Psychedelia - a small collection of 4 pen-and-ink drawings, two with color added]. [UK: circa 1966-1981]. 4 pen and ink drawings on sheets of wove paper (12 x 8 ¾ in; 304 x 222mm), two hand-colored (one of these with red-framed pince-nez glasses pasted on).

Suitably surrealistic from an artist who, with performance artist Bruce Lacey, created the 19-minute short film ‘Everybody’s Nobody’ in 1960 [see imdb for listing of his other work].

“John Sewell was one of the most talented students to have studied graphic design at the Royal College of Art. He was the acknowledged star of his generation … he was that rarity, a real artist, and one with whom the College is proud to be associated. There is little doubt that this pungent talent had a far greater influence on his contemporaries than his innate modesty allowed him to see. It was an influence central to the generation, and to the astonishing upsurge, of graphic design in this country since the war.” (written in December 1981 by Professor Richard Guyatt [1914-2007], Rector of the Royal College or Art)

Curriculum Vitae of John Sewell A R C A
1948 - 51 - Hornsey College of Art
1951-54 - Royal College of Art; Illustration under Edward Bawden; Graphic Design under F H K Henrion First class Diploma; Major Travelling Scholarship; Graphic Design medal; Typography prize
1955- Consultant to BBC Television to improve quality of programmes
titles, drawing, typography, graphic film on the screen;
1956- founded, and was Head of, BBC TV Graphic Art Section.
1958- freelance practice in Graphic Design and Illustration for numerous clients, Shell, Sunday Times, Faber, Penguin, Books, New Society, Bodley Head, Chatto & Windus, Heinemann, Calder, Boyars, Weidenfeld, Roche, etc, etc
1958- Consultant Designer to Better Books, creating its new look, House Style, Shop design, publicity, etc, Consultant to City Books; ditto,
1960- Consultant to Bumpus; ditto.
1961- Retained by Penguin Books to give book covers a new Look; designed and illustrated many series, Penguin Crime, Law, Modern Writing, etc.
1961- Tutor in Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art.
1967 - 71 - Senior Lecturer in Television Production at Ravensbourne College of Art. tv production, scripts, photography, etc.
1977- wrote, illustrated, published children's book, Professor Invento and His Best Invention (Heinemann) .
1981- continuing with freelance graphic design and illustration; continuing to paint and write; continuing to work for television.

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