A banned poster by Golders Green wartime designer Abram Games goes under the hammer at Bonhams.
Known by its nickname 'the blonde bombshell,' the 1941 poster was a well-meaning attempt at recruiting women to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service.
But with its pouting lips and blonde curls, the seductive image sparked controversy with the Press and authorities. Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemned it as "too Soviet," while others complained about its inappropriately glamorous depiction of the servicewoman.
The poster was withdrawn but a rare copy will be auctioned at Bonhams Vintage Posters Sale between January 26 and February 2 with a guide price of £2,000- 4,000.
Bonhams Specialist, Richard Barclay, commented: "We are all familiar with the instantly recognisable WWII posters such as ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ – a wonderful example of which also features in the sale – but ‘Join the ATS’ is much rarer and its bombshell status has cemented is place as a desirable vintage poster with a unique backstory."
Games was a pioneering poster designer best remembered for his iconic Festival of Britain symbol and wartime poster campaigns such as Grow Your Own Food and Your Talk May Kill Your Comrades.
The father-of-three's former home and studio at 41, The Vale, Golders Green where he moved in with wife Marianne in 1948 and lived until his death in 1996, is marked with an English Heritage Blue Plaque.
Born in Whitechapel, the son of Jewish immigrants, Games attended Hackney Downs School then left St Martin's art school to work for a commercial design firm. He won a poster competition run by London County Council and by the time he was conscripted to the Army in June 1940, had published 24 posters.
During service, he worked as a maps draughtsman before becoming an official artist for The War Office. His recruitment and instructional posters used humour to persuade soldiers to wash their feet and socks, look after their teeth, and seek early treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
In 1945 Games was one of the first to see photographic evidence of Nazi atrocities at Belsen concentration camp. He undertook voluntary work for Jewish charities included producing posters for appeals which starkly conveyed the horror of the Holocaust - including Jewish Camp Survivors Still Wait (1945), Give Clothing for Liberated Jewry (1945) and Displaced Persons. (1946)
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