Jonny Hannah – Kay Bruce Toyshop – Red & Blue Colourway – Signed Limited Edition Screenprint 27/50 – 2006

Description

A lively and highly characteristic original screenprint by Jonny Hannah, entitled Kay Bruce Toyshop – Red & Blue Colourway, dating from 2006.

The work measures 39.7 × 63.2 cm and was issued in a limited edition of only 50 impressions. This example is number 27/50 and is signed by Jonny Hannah in pencil, with the edition number clearly visible in the pale-blue margin.

Printed in a deliberately restricted palette of deep red, pale blue and cream, the composition is packed with the visual language of an old-fashioned toy shop, illustrated catalogue or novelty-goods advertisement. Hannah combines a large robot, a baseball player, playing-card imagery, a “Magic Tricks” panel and numerous fragments of hand-drawn lettering into a dense, exuberant design.

Prominent text includes:

“SOME GOOD SOME EVIL”

“ALL SHAPES / ALL SIZES”

and

“MAGIC TRICKS”

The result is less a conventional scene than an accumulation of signs, labels, characters and display graphics, all compressed into a single highly decorative field.

Toyshop Imagery

The title Kay Bruce Toyshop establishes the work within Hannah’s recurring interest in independent shops, commercial graphics, toys and the material culture of everyday life.

The imagery evokes the visual excitement of a traditional toy shop: robots, sports figures, magic sets, playing-card motifs and novelty objects appear side by side, much as they might in an old catalogue or crowded shop-window display.

Hannah does not present these elements nostalgically or literally. Instead, he reworks them through his own highly personal visual language, combining naive drawing, hand lettering and deliberately irregular graphic forms.

Red & Blue Colourway

This example is specifically identified as the Red & Blue Colourway.

The restricted use of deep red, pale blue and cream is particularly effective. It gives the print the appearance of economical mid-century commercial printing, where a limited number of colours were often used for catalogues, packaging, posters and advertising material.

The palette also helps unify the otherwise crowded composition, allowing the typography and illustrated motifs to read as a coherent whole.

Screenprint Technique

The work is an original screenprint, not a later photographic or digital reproduction.

Screenprinting allows Hannah to build the image in distinct layers of flat colour while retaining the irregularity and directness of his hand-drawn source material. Areas of dense colour sit alongside small variations in registration, edge and ink coverage, all of which contribute to the handmade character of the finished print.

The technique is particularly well suited to Hannah’s fascination with commercial printing and vernacular graphics, because it allows the work to occupy the territory between fine-art print, poster and illustrated advertisement.

An Early Jonny Hannah Print

The 2006 date places the work relatively early within Hannah’s independent printmaking output.

Many of the concerns that would become central to his later work are already fully present here: hand lettering, vintage commercial imagery, fictional or semi-fictional shops, toys, popular culture and the aesthetics of low-cost printed ephemera.

The combination of the early date, substantial size and small edition of 50 makes this a particularly appealing example of Hannah’s screenprint work.

Edition

This example is:

27/50

from an edition of only 50 impressions.

The pencil signature and edition number confirm it as part of the original limited edition.

Artist

Jonny Hannah is a British illustrator, painter and printmaker whose work frequently draws on hand lettering, old advertising, independent shops, popular music, folk art, toys, maritime culture and vernacular British graphics.

His prints often transform apparently ordinary commercial imagery into richly layered artworks.

Kay Bruce Toyshop – Red & Blue Colourway is a particularly good example of this approach, combining the visual vocabulary of a toy catalogue or shop display with Hannah’s own energetic typography and illustrative style.

Condition

Very good to excellent condition overall.

The red and pale-blue printing remains strong and attractive, with the image retaining very good clarity and visual impact.

There is only minor natural handling and slight paper irregularity visible, consistent with the age and handmade nature of the work. Small variations in ink coverage and registration are characteristic of the screenprinting process and should not be considered faults.

The pencil signature and edition number 27/50 remain clear and legible.

Please study the photographs carefully as they form an integral part of the description.

Artist: Jonny Hannah
Title: Kay Bruce Toyshop – Red & Blue Colourway
Date: 2006
Medium: Original colour screenprint
Edition: 27/50
Edition size: 50
Signed: Yes, in pencil
Size: 39.7 × 63.2 cm
Colourway: Red & Blue
Format: Original limited-edition artist’s screenprint
Unframed: Yes
Modern reproduction: No

Authenticity

This work has been handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at Hornseys before being offered for sale.

The pencil signature and edition number 27/50 are clearly visible, and the layered colour application is consistent with an original artist’s screenprint.

It is an original signed and numbered Jonny Hannah screenprint, not a later reproduction.

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EXPLORE OUR JONNY HANNAH COLLECTION

Explore our evolving collection of Jonny Hannah original paintings, signed and limited-edition prints, illustrated books and related artworks. His distinctive imagery, hand lettering and narrative style draw upon music, maritime culture, vintage advertising, folk art, popular entertainment and the visual character of British towns and seaside communities.

Whether you are an established collector, an admirer of contemporary British illustration or searching for an unusual and memorable gift, our collection offers the opportunity to acquire carefully selected examples of Jonny Hannah’s work.

Established in 1976 and based in Ripon, North Yorkshire, Hornseys is an independent gallery and bookseller specialising in original art, prints, design, collectable books and historic material. Every item is handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at our Ripon gallery.