Empire Marketing Board Posters : Manchester Art Gallery

Manchester Art Gallery's little-known collection of posters, commissioned by the British Government's Empire Marketing Board (EMB) between 1926 and 1933, provides a fascinating topic for this next title in Scala's popular '4-Fold' series.

The EMB's main functions were to research the production, trade and use of goods throughout the British Empire and to promote the idea of 'Buying Empire'.

A product of their time, these posters, whilst visually stunning, also raise difficult questions in a contemporary audience about the legacy of empire. 'Empire Marketing Board Posters' takes a selection from this unique collection, examining the varied themes of the EMB's graphics output and questioning its promotion of a sense of imperial pride and the use of stereotypical images of people and places.