Daily Guinness (c.1960s)

Year: c.1960s

Format: Beermat

Illustrator: Eric Hobbs (1915-2004)

Client: Guinness

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Details: This Guinness beermat features artwork similar to that shown on posters from the early 1960s. Those illustrations are signed EH - the artist is Eric William "Bruce" Hobbs (1915-2004), a designer and art director.

Eric Hobbs was born in Oxford in 1915. He worked as an apprentice printer at the age of 15 while attending art and design evening classes at the Oxford College of Art. Hobbs was kept out of active service in the Second World War by childhood TB and poor eyesight but he spent time at the Admiralty as a cartographer.

Hobbs joined S.H. Benson advertising agency in 1944, where he worked his way up and became an art director. He was responsible for the agency's most important accounts, including Guinness. As well as creating artwork himself, Hobbs commissioned many of the top illustrators at the time. Hobbs was also responsible for the corporate Guinness identity and typeface that is largely still in use today.

Hobbs continued to work in advertising until 1990, when he retired to live in Suffolk and pursue his love of drawing and painting.