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Douglas
Annand
(1903-1976)
Douglas
Annand, one of Australia's most productive and versatile artists,
was internationally recognised for the quality of his work. He was
a freelance commercial artist who studied at the Brisbane Technical
College for only a short period. In 1928 he joined the Samson Clark
Advertising Agency. He transferred to their Sydney office in 1930,
the year in which he won a poster competition celebrating the opening
of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Annand
worked in a variety of media. He designed magazine covers, posters
and stationery, and accepted many civic art commissions. He was
principal designer for the Australian Pavilion at the New York World
Fair in 1939, and again for the 1940 Trade Exhibition in Wellington,
New Zealand. He was awarded the Sulman Prize three times and the
Mosman prize for watercolours. In 1968 his 'Black Swan' poster won
a silver medal at the Seventh International Tourist Exhibition in
Milan.
Although
he worked in both commercial and fine art, acknowledgment of Annand's
achievements in one field often ignores his work in the other. Nonetheless,
the wide public exposure of his designs and his interest in a specifically
Australian idiom at a time when many of his peers were concerned
with creating 'international' images, has made Annand's innovative
approach to design extremely influential.
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