‘A Fisherman’s Story’ Print by Bernard Cheese

Part of a series of prints put out by Guinness Breweries and overseen by Barnet Freedman to promote the 1956 edition of the Guinness Book of records. Each artist was given a copy of the book and asked to illustrate a record therein. ‘The Fisherman’s Story’ was one of the first produced. The idea was to fulfil that mid-century idea of ‘Art for All’. They would record social history, particularly everyday people’s leisure pursuits – darts, horse racing, cycling and, as here, fishing – and the prints were to be displayed in public houses. Here Cheese captures a scene amongst regulars. The fisherman indicates the size of fish caught – a record, no doubt, but recollection may have been influenced a tad by a warming glow, derived from that glass of Guinness, firmly clutched in hand as it is.