Picture perfect posters from famous names in art and design

>> WINCHCOMBE'S splendid museum is probably best known for being home to the 4.6 billion year old fragment of a rare meteorite dating from around the time the Universe sprang into being that landed in a local resident's front drive in 2021.

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In the same year, the museum hosted an exhibition of work by Laurence Fish, who lived in the Cotswold town. Perhaps not a household name it's true, but Laurence Fish was one of the country's leading illustrators and commercial artists. You'd recognised his posters.

In the Second World War Mr Fish was part of an M15 unit tasked with making innocent looking sabotage weapons that could be used in covert operations. One of his illustrations was for an exploding bar of chocolate.

Back in peace time, Laurence Fish took commissions from commercial clients and his posters for British Rail from the 1960s are now much sought after by collectors, fetching high prices at specialist auctions. Colourful and bold, the posters capture the golden age of steam travel, when the prospect of taking a train to the seaside promised adventure and, maybe even romance. One of his posters won the 1960 National Outdoor Advertising Award.