During 1946 post war Britain was getting back on its feet and the V&A held a highly acclaimed and hugely well attended exhibition titled ‘Britain can make it’ which featured innovative modern design from the best of British designers and makers. The exhibition was opened by the King and Queen and had queues around the building with the public wanting to see what the future could be bringing .
The aim of the Britain Can Make It exhibition was both to bolster Britain's manufacturing industry, and, to promote a 'design consciousness' in the British public. The severe debt left behind by the Second World War, as well as continued rationing – which wouldn't ease until 1952 – meant that income generated through trade, especially international trade, was crucial to recover Britain's crippled economy. The government decided that well-designed consumer goods for the domestic and export markets would represent British industry as modern, forward-thinking and high-quality. The Council of Industrial Design was founded to "promote by all practicable means the improvement of design in the products of British industry". V&A website
During 1946 Robert Buhler was at his very best and found post war London a place where he could record the spirit of the people and city as it began to return to a more normal state. He painted a number of highly regarded works that were purchased for the country to provide a historic record of this important time in our history. These are still held by RA collection , Tate Britain and London Museum collections but a few are still in private collections .
Robert Buhler had taken to painting scenes from an elevated position allowing him to almost form a photographic image in paint of the streets and people of London during 1946. He often used a similar palette and in this work depicting the queues outside the V&A museum with Londoners waiting to enter the exhibition and he uses an identical palette to the other 1946 work we have available depicting Sloane Square.
As we can see from the painting Robert Buhler has a skill in taking an everyday scene and making it feel some how iconic. The 1946 streets outside the V&A were adorned with the Union Jack and flags of the UK and must have added, not only the colour and sense of patriotism but feeling of the country moving forward and optimism . Photos in black and white from the time show similar groups queuing for the exhibition but the coullour that Robert Buhler brings to his image adds much more feeling and depth .
This painting is available to purchase .