Lot 519: John Rowland Barker (British, 1911-1959)

John Rowland Barker (British, 1911-1959)
Blue Glass with Lemon, 1958
signed and dated (lower right)
oils on canvas
30 x 40cm.

Provenance:
with The Piccadilly Gallery, London.

Barker began as a graphic artist, working initially as an assistant to the poster designer Austin Cooper, before going freelance. In the late 1930s he worked under the name 'Kraber', as to take an Eastern European name was deemed fashionable. During World War II, Barker could do little work as he was a radio operator for the Merchant Navy. In 1950 he won the Poster Competition for the United Kingdom Recovery Programme and by 1951 he had been commissioned to do a mural for the Festival of Britain in Battersea Park and another for Parliament Town Hall.