Motif

Throughout 13 issues that Motif published between November 1958 and 1967, this eclectic magazine illustrated and commented on painting, sculpture, graphic design, typography and lettering, illustration, photography, architecture, wood engraving and the history of the graphic arts. Beautifully photographed, its presentation with its hardback covers was somewhat before its time. It was the brainchild of its first editor Ruari McLean, (1917-2006) and its publisher James Shand, (1905-67). Shand had been well versed in the art publishing world as he had previously been responsible for Typography (1936-39), Alphabet and Image (1946-48) and Image (1949-52) all ground-breakers in their time. There was an initial leaning towards the graphic arts, but the owner and editor were determined to gain a wider audience. To this end, they gradually recruited as contributors a wide and varied group of artists and sculptors and multi-disciplined artisans.

These included Edward Ardizzone, Trevor Bates, Edward Bawden, Reg Butler, Christopher Chamberlain, Hubert Dalwood, Alan Davie, John Griffiths, Richard Guyatt, John Hoskin, Lynton Lamb, Charles Mozley, Ian Ribbons, Sheila Robinson, Claude Rogers, Michael Rothenstein, Laurence Scarfe, Robert Stewart and Hans Unger amongst many. Unusually the altruism of the organisation in not running any advertising to assist their income stream was arguably their downfall. Coupled with the fact that there were no outlets for the magazine in the UK outside London as it was subscription only, it was simply not a viable operation in an ever-increasing world where the bottom line was everything. The final issue, no. 13, originally planned for publication in early 1965, came out at the end of 1967 as a tribute to its founder James Shand who had died suddenly in November 1967. It had been three years since the previous issue in the winter of 1964.

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