This exquisite lithograph after Felix Kelly (1914–1994), titled Drifter and Steamers, S.P.15., originates from the School Prints Ltd. series, published by School Prints Ltd., London, under the direction of Brenda Rawnsley, London; printed by Baynard Press, London, under the direction of Thomas Griffiths, London, 1946. The composition reflects Kelly’s architectural precision and atmospheric sensitivity, translating maritime subject matter into a carefully structured modernist image marked by clarity, balance, and theatrical stillness.
Executed as a lithograph in six colors on English cartridge paper, this work measures 19.49 x 29.92 inches (49.5 x 76 cm). Signed in the plate and unnumbered as issued from an edition CCC. Printed by Baynard Press, London, under the direction of Thomas Griffiths.
Artwork Details:
Artist: After Felix Kelly (1914–1994)
Title: Drifter and Steamers, S.P.15.
Medium: Lithograph in six colors on English cartridge paper
Dimensions: 19.49 x 29.92 inches (49.5 x 76 cm)
Inscription: Signed in the plate and unnumbered as issued from an edition CCC
Date: 1946
Publisher: School Prints Ltd., London, under the direction of Brenda Rawnsley
Printer: Baynard Press, London, under the direction of Thomas Griffiths
Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium
Provenance: From the School Prints Ltd. series, published in London, 1946
About the Publication:
Founded in 1935 by Derek Rawnsley, School Prints Ltd. was one of the most visionary educational art initiatives in twentieth century Britain. Created alongside Picture Hire Ltd., the enterprise sought to democratize access to modern art by placing original lithographs directly into British schools. Rather than reproductions, these were authentic prints by leading contemporary artists, produced at modest scale and cost so that public education authorities could afford to participate. Following Derek Rawnsley’s death in 1943, the company was managed by Dorothy Bland before being revitalized in 1945 under the direction of Brenda Rawnsley. With guidance from the distinguished art historian Herbert Read, Rawnsley launched an ambitious commissioning program intended to introduce schoolchildren to the language of modern art. Artists were invited to produce original lithographs limited to six colors in order to maintain affordability while preserving artistic integrity. The first series, issued in 1946 and 1947, featured prominent British artists including L. S. Lowry, John Nash, Julian Trevelyan, Michael Rothenstein, Edwin La Dell, Hans Feibusch, John Skeaping, Feliks Topolski, David Gentleman, and John Tunnard. These works were printed from stone or zinc plates by Thomas Griffiths and the Baynard Press, combining high production standards with accessible pricing. At its height, the program reached approximately 4,000 subscribing schools across the United Kingdom. In 1947 Rawnsley expanded the project internationally, persuading major European modernists to participate. The European Series, launched in 1949, included original lithographs by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Fernand Leger, Raoul Dufy, and Henry Moore. This remarkable collaboration brought museum caliber artists directly into the classroom, underscoring the publication’s historical importance. Technically innovative as well as culturally ambitious, portions of the later series were produced using Plastocowell plates developed by W. S. Cowell Ltd. of Ipswich, an early plastic lithographic process whose surviving matrices are now preserved in the Tate collection. Although the more avant garde works proved less popular with schools and the enterprise eventually declined, School Prints Ltd. remains a landmark in postwar art education and publishing history. Today, works bearing the School Prints Ltd. imprint are widely regarded as significant examples of mid century British printmaking and as important documents of a pioneering effort to integrate contemporary art into public education. For collectors, they represent both artistic distinction and a compelling social history narrative, combining cultural mission, technical innovation, and the participation of some of the most important artists of the twentieth century.
About the Artist:
Felix Kelly (1914–1994) was a British painter, muralist, illustrator, theatrical designer, and master of architectural imagination whose hauntingly precise cityscapes and visionary interiors secured his place within the wider narrative of twentieth-century modernism shaped by Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray; working at the confluence of Surrealism, Neo-Romanticism, and classical architectural draftsmanship, Kelly developed a highly distinctive visual language defined by immaculate perspective, jewel-like color harmonies, theatrical light, and an atmosphere of suspended time, transforming grand staircases, terraced gardens, arcaded courtyards, baroque palaces, and dreamlike urban vistas into psychologically charged spaces that echo Giorgio de Chirico while retaining a uniquely British refinement; educated at Downside School and active in London’s pre- and postwar cultural circles, he moved among influential creative figures including Oliver Messel, John Piper, Rex Whistler, Edward Bawden, and John Minton, bridging fine art, design, and stagecraft, and his early theatrical training profoundly shaped paintings that read like meticulously constructed sets awaiting unseen protagonists, combining Renaissance perspective, Baroque grandeur, and modern psychological ambiguity; his subtle manipulations of scale and space align conceptually with the experimental legacies of Kandinsky and Duchamp, while his dreamlike stillness resonates with the surreal sensibilities associated with Dali and Man Ray; throughout his career he executed significant mural commissions and private decorative schemes for distinguished collectors and historic houses, and his works entered respected public and private collections internationally, attracting discerning collectors of British Surrealism and architectural fantasy; Kelly’s disciplined draftsmanship, crystalline color control, and immersive spatial construction have influenced later generations of architectural painters and contemporary surrealists exploring illusion, memory, and constructed environments; the highest recorded auction result for Felix Kelly was achieved in June 2008, when The Garden of the Villa d’Este sold for £145,250 GBP at Christie’s London, establishing a benchmark for his market and reaffirming his enduring appeal among collectors of sophisticated twentieth-century British art.
Felix Kelly lithograph, School Prints Ltd. 1946, Baynard Press London, Brenda Rawnsley School Prints, British mid century printmaking, Kelly maritime scene, School Prints series, British modern lithograph.
