Ghost signs
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Checking out the stats for the blog I came across someone in London by the name of Sam Roberts who has a blog for afficionados of wall painted adverts like the Bile Beans and Stubbs signs in York. (one slight correction, I wasnt around in York in 1986 when York Arts Forum restored the Bile Beans advert.) This led me to a collection of over 3,000 pictures worldwide of such surviving wall art and a link to a You tube video clip about the work of Collossal Media in the US for Whisky company Dewars.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bipaX8iCZRQ . They have commissioned some new works, which are even 'aged' with sandpaper once complete to make them look like they are of older vintage. This clip demonstrates how the image was transferred to the wall in much the same way as we traced pictures as a child, using rolls of paper with the outline of the image perforated so that the chalk or powdered charcoal from the 'pouncebag'could be effect the transfer onto the wall to guide the painters. More info can be found on the US Museum of brewing website http://www.brewingmuseum.org/article07.htm or the articles on Sams blog: http://brickads.blogspot.com/2007/09/south-london-press.html
There's an interesting debate about how such signs might be protected, whether it is appropriate to allow them to be superceded by modern adverts that preserve the technique rather than the ad itself and what the legalities might be. In a case that went to the High Court, it was ruled that an old advert didnt automatically mean that planning permission was unneccessary to obscure it with a new advert! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6616745.stm
| Legal battle over ageing advert | ||
| A faded advert, emblazoned on the side of a London building for nearly a century, has been at the centre of a lengthy court battle. The High Court has ruled the lettering for the long-defunct Sunday Evening Telegram newspaper at 48 Battersea Rise, London is no longer an advert. The ageing advert declares: Spend a Happy Sunday with the National News Sunday Evening Telegram. Clear Channel had argued it did not need permission to run adverts on the site as there was "deemed consent" under clause 13 of regulations in the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act. Mr Justice Sullivan said he could not accept the faded advertisement was still being "employed for the purposes of advertising" on 1 April 1 1974. The newspaper had "ceased to be available since about 1921," he said. "A wall on which words were painted over 80 years ago and where the paint has simply been allowed to fade with the passage of time cannot, in ordinary English, be said to being used for the display of advertisements." Lord Justice Latham agreed and Clear Channel was ordered to pay £13,667 towards Wandsworth Council's legal costs. | ||
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Thanks for the correction and the plug above. these signs are a personal fascination of mine and I'm currently working up a book proposal as a charity project.
If you see any 'ghost' signs anywhere in the UK I'm always looking for new locations.
Cheers!
Sam
http://www.ghostsigns,co.uk
