Spirit of the Southern

Harry Stevens (1919-2008) was commissioned by the General Manager of the British Railways, Southern Region in 1969. The resulting painting was not popular in its day and was rarely displayed publicly by the company. He was born 1919 in Manchester, died 2008, and designed posters for London Transport 1960-1978. He had no formal art training and started his design career in the exhibitions and display trade. He went on to become a freelance commercial artist, specialising in poster design. He worked for a wide variety of clients and agencies and in 1963 won the Council of Industrial Design Poster Award. In 1955 he joined the Society of Industrial Artists and was elected Fellow ten years later. He was also a member of the Society of Modern Painters.