Dates

• Existence: 1914 - 1983

Biography

Frederick (Fred) George Fowle aka Futuristic Fred, was one of the most sought after fairground artists of the twentieth century. Fred became renowned for his innovative and futuristic free hand lettering and scroll work, thus his nickname. His work mimicked movement and 3D effects and signalled a departure from heavier styles, which looked backwards for inspiration, by firmly and optimistically embracing modernity. Fred’s style defied the previous artistic canons when society looked to move forward and break away from the norm and replicated the promise of the thrill of the ride and a newfound appetite for speed and change.

Fred started his career in the fairground industry in 1929 at 15 years of age, with fairground ride manufacturing company R.J. Lakin & Co. At Lakin, still in his formative years, Fred worked with Edwin Hall (1911– 1978), an established fairground artist, who had an impactful and long lasting influence in his development as an artist. After the First World War, British society was ready for change and the Art Deco movement offered a striking departure from the trauma of conflict and an optimistic outlook into a future led by the younger generation. The popular entertainment sector responded to this through the supply of faster rides decorated with innovative and futuristic graphics. This marked Fred’s career, which thrived in the development of innovative styles and techniques helped by his mindset in sync with the new born youth culture.

During the Second World War, with all efforts focused on the war service and the temporary decline of the travelling fairground, Fred, like many others working in the sector lost his job. He found temporary employment with the British Railways, until he enlisted to serve with the army. Upon release from service, Fred joined forces with fellow fairground artist William ‘Billy’ Hall, brother of Edwin Hall, and founded Hall & Fowle, a fairground ride decorating company, in the Balham district of London. Fred and Billy complemented each other’s artistic strengths and used them to their advantage to solidify their place in the entertainment industry. Billy focused in the more traditional figurative scenes and classical imagery and Fred in his signature futuristic scrollwork, lettering and abstract designs. Hall & Fowle soon became very popular with the British showmen and their services were in high demand.

In 1964 after nearly two decades of operation, Billy left the company and Fred took on the business on his own as F.G. Fowle Ltd. By this time, popular culture was undergoing another drastic reinvention with the birth of the hippie movement and psychedelia. Fairground rides started to take the first steps toward the white-knuckle ride, offering an adrenaline full experience through speed and a sense of danger and defiance. Fred responded to this with graphics that fed on this demand iconographically and stylistically by using bold, bright colours and innovative materials such as aluminium leaf and Glitterite to add a metallic dimension and quality to his work and increase its visual impact.

Throughout his career Fred found his inspiration in British art as well as in the aesthetics of comic books and American popular culture and translated this unlikely mix into the visual needs of the fairground and popular entertainment. His marvelling effects were second to none and his painting technique relied on the depth achieved by applying multiple layers of colour and varnish to his work and delivering the highest standards of quality.

Fred died suddenly in 1983, aged 69 and today he is still celebrated as one of the best British fairground artists of all times.

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