Exhibition of the week: The Lyons Teashops Lithographs: Art in a Time of Austerity 1946-55, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
Lyons teashops were the Starbucks of their day. In the aftermath of war, the management of the restaurant chain was faced with a pressing challenge: how to enliven dingy and often war-scarred interiors up and down the country without spending a fortune.
An ingenious solution was proposed: to cover the walls with large lithographs, 40 of them in all, commissioned from some of the best artists of the time.
The results, all on display at the Towner, were generally speaking soothing and uncontroversial, with a great deal of manufactured good cheer, from such leading lights as Edward Ardizzone, Edward Bawden, John Piper and David Gentleman.
01323 434670, to 22 September
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