Max Gill: Wonderground Man – the most recent exhibition at Ditchling Museum of Art – which ended in April this year – attracted a host of visitors, both seasoned enthusiasts as well as newcomers to Max’s work. It’s always wonderful to see how people of all ages are attracted to the various maps and other works, often finding their own personal links to the places or events that are illustrated. One of the simplest but certainly the most powerful of all the exhibits was the military headstone. This never fails to make people pause and think, not just about the art behind the stone but also about the Great War – and subsequent conflicts – that it symbolises.<\/p>\n
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The W.H. Smith Map<\/h3>\n
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The most exciting event of the Max year took place in April at Chorley’s, an auction house near Cheltenham that was given the task of selling a collection of items owned by the W.H. Smith Trust. Amongst a miscellany of shop signs, paintings and art deco furniture, was the 7ft 3in (2m 21cm) square painted map Max completed for the firm in 1931.<\/p>\n
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The W.H. Smith map reflects the company’s illustrious heritage as the number one stationer on British high streets. It was commissioned in 1929 by the firm’s chairman Charles H. St. Hornby and director Arnold D. Power soon after W.H. Smith & Son had changed from a partnership to a private limited liability company. As well as the bookstalls, wholesale branches and bookshops, it depicts the range of newspaper delivery methods used by the firm which still included horse drawn vehicles. \u00a0 The map also shows the newly-opened branch in Brussels as well as the W.H. Smith bookshop and tearoom on the rue de Rivoli in Paris where an Englishman could buy his daily paper. The fascia boards of the Paris branch were painted in 1904 by Max’s brother Eric (possibly with Max’s assistance). They would have travelled over on the boat-train but in 1931 they could have flown to the French capital on The City of Glasgow, the plane depicted on the map over the French coast. Operated by Imperial Airways, this was the first luxury London to Paris service.<\/p>\n