Paul B Mann

Paul B Mann was a British illustrator active in the Forties and Fifties who specialised in industrial and engineering subjects. He illustrated several Picture Puffin books, including The Story of Iron, Locomotives and Marvellous Models. The flair he displayed for visualising industry and transport far exceeded his ability for portraying the human figure. The combination of an incisive line and chalky areas of colour was typical of the period. The images below come from a series of educational posters produced by Macmillans for use as classroom visual aids. Most of these posters illustrated either stories from the Bible or pictures showing contented and grateful indigenous peoples the world over enjoying the benefits of being subject to the power of the British Empire. In among them were a few of Paul Mann’s industrial exercises which are reproduced here.