Cover Story
Museums & Galleries
Museums & Galleries was born in the 1980s, bringing the best of the world’s museums to the high street. Its portfolio has expanded to include old masters, contemporary art - and even modern fashion design Museums & Galleries Ltd (M&G) launched in the 1980s with the aim of bringing the gems of the world’s museums to beautifully made and produced cards and stationery for the high street. It remains true to this mission today, but over the years the company has expanded both its product portfolio and the variety of art it publishes, so today has an outstanding retail offer covering a wide spectrum from heritage fine art to contemporary fashion design, old masters to contemporary artists and illustrators, anonymous archival discoveries to the most prestigious of fine art museum brands. The company’s core collection of
“Strongly individual artists with powerful stories to tell and strong commercial appeal are given their own personal ranges”
greetings cards branded ‘Classics’ is a heady mix of styles curated from a variety of sources. Every image is chosen for its quality and timeless style. The range is infinitely adaptable to the changing consumer moods, and M&G carefully balances some endearingly quirky designs against classics by the likes of Monet, Van Gogh, and LS Lowry. Asian art is a striking trend here, as well as cards aimed at masculine interests. Animals, florals and landscapes are hugely popular. ‘Classics’ comes in a square format as well as a traditional rectangular format, all blank for the sender’s own message. The next own-brand the company developed was ‘The Illustrators’; all
Did you know? Museums and Galleries has worked with renowned institutions including the V&A, the British Library, the British Museum, Natural History Museum, BBC Earth and Transport for London. 18 www.greetingstoday.media
square cards printed on textured board and originally featuring classic illustration from children’s books. Over time this range has blossomed into a showcase for iconic, slightly nostalgic, British character illustration – Peggy Fortnum’s classic Paddington Bear illustrations; Quentin Blake’s work for Roald Dahl’s books; Judith Kerr’s ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ illustrations, Anita Jeram’s illustrations to ‘Guess How Much I Love You’, among others. New this year are Jill Barklem’s gloriously detailed and much- loved ‘Brambly Hedge’ illustrations. M&G has continued to innovate with new own-brand ranges, and in recent years has launched two contemporary art strands, which have quickly established themselves as retailer favourites: ‘Mezzanine’ and ‘Art of Print’. ‘Art of Print’ is a collection of contemporary printmaking across all disciplines, printed on textured board and rectangular in format. Wildlife and especially birds are very strong in this range, but landscapes also feature. ‘Mezzanine’ focuses on bright, bold
