Farmers Use Shell

Key facts

Catalogue Number

538
Title

Farmers Use Shell
Date

1939
Artist

John Armstrong

Farmer George is a caricature of Shell’s 1930s Publicity Manager Jack Beddington. John Armstrong (1893–1973) initially studied law and then went on to St John’s Wood School of Art. He began to paint seriously after World War I and was influenced by Greek Art and also by de Chirico who exhibited in London in 1928. His paintings became Surrealist in the 1930s and he became a member of the influential Unit One group in 1933. He designed theatre and ballet sets, and decorated a number of prominent sites, including an eight panel mural for the dining room at Shell-Mex House in 1932. He was an official War Artist.