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Catalogue information
LastDodo number
5942969
Area
Drawings / paintings
Title
Reaching for firmer footing
Artist
Art object
Art Movement / style
Genre
Material
Technique used
Colouring
Dimensions
47 x 39 cm
Series / hero
Collection / set
Number
Addition to number
Year
1951
Country
Language
Details
Original editorial cartoon on card in ink and crayon for the Newark (New Jersey) Evening News, 1951, shows Clement Attlee walking a high wire in the form of a clothes-line which is about to break at both ends, representing ‘parliamentary majority dwindling’ while calling for a ‘new election’. Clement Attlee was British prime minister between 1945 and 1951, leading a reform government (‘socialist schemes’) which changed the face of Britain. By 1951 however, the Attlee Government was exhausted, with several of its most senior ministers ailing, ageing or deceased, and with a lack of new ideas. Attlee was also finding it more and more difficult to settle internal differences in the Labour Party. The final straw was a damaging split over an austerity Budget brought in by the Chancellor, Hugh Gaitskell, to pay for the cost of Britain's participation in the Korean War. Several senior ministers resigned in protest. Finding it increasingly difficult to govern, Attlee eventually called a snap election in October 1951, in the hope of achieving a more workable majority and establishing a ‘firmer footing’ for his government. However, Labour went on to narrowly lose the election to the Conservative Party, despite winning slightly more votes. Card size 47 x 39 cm (18.5 x 15 inch), image size 39 x 30 cm, signed lower right, caption written in pencil in upper border. In very good condition.