1946
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Drifter and Paddle Boats is a 1946 by Felix Kelly, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This print shows a quiet scene with a drifting boat and small paddle boats. Felix Kelly made it in 1946 as part of a bold plan to bring art into classrooms. After World War II, schools struggled with money. Brenda Rawnsley started a project that paid famous artists to make prints sold cheaply to schools. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Felix Kelly’s 1946 lithograph *Drifter and Paddle Boats* was produced for the School Prints series, a 1940s initiative that commissioned established artists to create editioned prints for display in schools. The work depicts a boat alongside paddle steamers, framed by a drawn border intended for pinning to classroom walls. Part of a post-war effort to expose children to contemporary art amid austerity, the series emphasized everyday scenes of rural, urban, or leisure life. Financial constraints led to its discontinuation in 1949 after four years.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Felix Runcie Kelly was a New Zealand-born graphic designer, painter, stage designer, interior designer and illustrator who lived the majority of his life in the United Kingdom. He sometimes signed his illustration and cartoon work Fix.
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