HANS SCHLEGER
Hans Schleger
(né Schlesinger, aka ‘Zéró’) (b. 1898 Kempen, Germany – immigrated to USA 1924, then Great Britain 1932 – d. 1976 London England)
Hands at your Service (Ticket Collector), 1946
Lithograph 101.6 x 63.5 cm Signed (upper left) ‘Zéró’ Ben Uri Collection Presented by Mrs Helen Draper 2016
During the Second World War, Schleger was commissioned by London Passenger Transport Board, the Ministry of Food and the General Post Office to produce information posters. Hands at your Service pays tribute to his view that in Britain uniforms denoted service rather than oppression. Schleger served in the German Army in the First World War and was awarded the Iron Cross. In 1924, as “Zéró”, in New York, his advertising posters portrayed the quintessential Englishman prior to his immigration in 1932. Schleger went on to design advertising and corporate visual identity for British companies, including John Lewis and Penguin Books.
44 Finchleystraße
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