Firefighters in art and media
a pictorial history
by John A Walker
Francis Boutle Publishers
ISBN 1 903427 23 1
Hardback Over 220 illustrations in full colour
Price per copy including postage: UK £27.50 Worldwide £32
This edition is limited to 1,000 copies
The book
Firefighters in Art and Media is a history of visual representations of firefighters from 1600 to the present day. It contains over 200 images, arranged in chronological order, accompanied by commentaries on the artists and their work – paintings, woodcuts, magazine illustrations, film stills, photographs, sculpture, cigarette cards, posters, children’s books, postcards, toys, cartoons and monuments, mainly from Britain and the United States. But John A. Walker’s book is more than an art historical survey; by including work normally overlooked by art historians – memorials and fictional representations, depictions of the humour as well as the heroism of the profession – Walker reflects the widespread affection the public holds for firefighters, who risk their lives in the service of others.
The author
John A. Walker, art critic and art historian, trained as a painter at Newcastle upon Tyne. Until his retirement in 1999 he was Reader in Art & Design History at Middlesex University. He is the author of more than fifteen books, mostly concerned with the relationship between fine art and the mass media; they include Art in the Age of Mass Media, Design History and the History of Design, Art and Outrage, Art and Celebrity and a study of the British artist John Latham.
