Seven-panel peepshow, inclusive of image at rear
board. A clever and elaborate advertising campaign for Shell Oil, the peepshow
has two separate viewing holes: one guides the viewer down a rainy nighttime
street in London, and the other along a day's jaunt in the country. Freedman's
style can be best described as commercial post-Impressionist modernism, an apt
approach both for the watery scene of alleyways and the naturalism of a rural
road. This particularly accessible sort of British modern art distinguishes
Freedman from his contemporaries, such as Duncan Grant and Walter Sickert.
Though he did not attain the highbrow acclaim of those two of the Bloomsbury
"peerage," his knack for the vernacular indicates a key element of
modern art, i.e., that it permeated advertisements, newspapers, illustrated
books, stamps, textiles, and all facets of daily life. Freedman took advantage
of that visual ubiquity, creating illustrations for the postage stamps
commemorating King George V's Silver Jubilee, various publications from Faber
and Gwyer (later Faber and Faber), Limited Editions Club and Heritage Press
editions, film publicity materials, and various pieces for the World War II War
Artists' Advisory Committee. The efforts all coalesce here in a dynamic and
enjoyable peepshow. Moderate wear to edges of illustrated covers, some foxing
at lower panel, else near fine. (Hyde 287).