The Proud City - Chelsea Power House from Meek Street
A painted view of Chelsea Power House and ruined houses under searchlight beams in wartime London, signed Walter E. Spradbery 1944, with the title 'The Proud City' and a quotation from a literary author beneath. The tell is the pairing of bomb-damaged or wartime scenes with an admired author's lines and the London Transport roundel, which attaches the prestige of the quotation and the city's landmarks to the sight of the damage.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- London Transport (roundel); artist Walter E. Spradbery; printed by Johnson Riddle & Co., Ltd.
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- Home front, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; London Transport poster signed 1944, hosted by owner decision
London Transport; artist Walter E. Spradbery; printed by Johnson Riddle & Co., Ltd.. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-449d.
Text on the object
THE PROUD CITY CHELSEA POWER HOUSE FROM MEEK STREET "...the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens..." James McNeill Whistler [signed:] WALTER E. SPRADBERY 1944 [imprint:] JOHNSON RIDDLE & CO. LTD
