Rubbish May be Shot Here 1937

Rubbish May be Shot Here is a collage that marks a pivotal moment in Julian Trevelyan’s artistic development. It was made in 1937, the year King George V died and was succeeded by Edward VIII who, in order to marry a divorcee, was forced to abdicate in favour of his brother, crowned King George VI in his stead on 12 May. Most of the cut-out heads at the base of this image are taken from newspaper photographs of the coronation, or represent successive generations of the royal family: George VI’s widowed mother Queen Mary; his wife, Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother); and his two daughters Elizabeth (the present Queen) and her younger sister, Margaret. The smiling child, however, is taken directly from an advertisement for Shredded Wheat, captioned ‘the food for general fitness’. Above them tall factory chimneys and cotton mills reach into a smoky, cloud-studded sky, the solidity of the architecture contrasting forcefully with the chaos on the ground where royalty is mixed indiscriminately with printed images of pots and pans, royal plate, household furniture and vegetables. Darting through them are primitively-drawn fish in bright pastel colours.