Abram Games

Abram Games (1914, Whitechapel, London — 1996, London), British graphic designer. Born Abraham Gamse in Whitechapel, London on the day World War I began in 1914, he was the son of Joseph Gamse, a Latvian photographer, and Sarah, a seamstress born on the border of Russia and Poland. His father anglicized the family name to Games when Abram was 12. Games left Hackney Downs School at the age of 16 and went to London's St. Martins School of Art (toda... more

Abram Games (1914, Whitechapel, London — 1996, London), British graphic designer. Born Abraham Gamse in Whitechapel, London on the day World War I began in 1914, he was the son of Joseph Gamse, a Latvian photographer, and Sarah, a seamstress born on the border of Russia and Poland. His father anglicized the family name to Games when Abram was 12. Games left Hackney Downs School at the age of 16 and went to London's St. Martins School of Art (today the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design). Disillusioned by the teaching at St Martins and worried about the expense of studying there, Games left after two terms. However, while working as a "studio boy" in commercial design firm Askew-Young in London 1932-36, he was attending night classes in life drawing. He was fired from this position due to his jumping over four chairs as a prank. In 1934, his entry was second in the Health Council Competition and, in 1935, won a poster competition for the London City Council. 1936-40, he... less