Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson - knows his stuff on Mod but his 'Mod Art' book was dire. See my review at Amazon below.  I don't do a lot of reviews there but it really did need it. It prompted him to contact me and say he was out of his depth, didn't research it and was pressed on a publication date. It was rubbish, even superficially and I'm no art critic. 

The review is included not to further critique the book, but some of the things I mention of relevance in it may be interesting to some here and prompt some fun googling for pictures of topics that I mention  (Robyn Denny's mural, the surreal artwork of Ian Dury, Gordon House Ivy style dressing, his amazing studio, great art etc).

That review and some coverage at my blog - put Lloyd further in contact and we had a great online dialogue.


BTW - Mickey Tenner dances in Tigon 1967 horror film 'The Sorcerers' and I think may be in a 1969 ghost type film too.  But he is definitely in The Sorcerers.  If I remember correctly, he used to reply to threads a while ago in another group.  He and few of the wave 2 originals used to chat loosely online and I was around it. 

The was a good analysis by a French academic (I think) of Mod that said there were four waves of the originals: 
1. a tiny number of modernists who faded into normality by early 60s, largely unconnected with actual Mod and not a direct lineage, but same impulse and ethos 

2. The first wave of Mod around 1960-1963 (largely underground, local scenes with inter area rivalry, pre-Soul/pop-rock  music).  A lot of these then went a bit more underground, normal or undefined as the next wave came in - so terms like Stylist, Individualist, Gent etc started to be some in this wave as they matured away from the next wave of younger kids.

3.  The national wave with copyists, kids and popular wave 1963-1967  Cheaper clothing, tickets/numbers, t-shirts, jeans in the mix etc. RSG, beaches, Carnaby Street as pop destination etc. 

4. The follow-ons  - adopters after 1966 also Mod fringes of such as psychedelia, peannuts/skins, early soul and reggae scenes, early Scooter Boys.  Back to being local. That feels broadly right to me.


Also - Village Gate shop anyone?  Often left out of the JS heritage and in the shaggy short, round collar era - but all part of the mix.


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Amazon review:
Very little Mod related art, okay as a generic book on Mod related visuals
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2019

This book will be enjoyed by many but its title is misleading. It should not be called Mod Art, it should be called something such as Visual Mod. I will be in a minority with the review but I have researched Mod Art extensively as a Modernist for forty years.

The main section on art only covers Peter Blake with tiny mentions of Bridget Riley and Pauline Boty. Key figures such as Robyn Denny (his London mural is definitively Mod art and inspired so much more) and Gordon House (an actual Modernist who dressed in Ivy style) are not mentioned or covered at all. Robyn Denny's striped mod style art and murals by Eduardo Paolozzi are still seen on the London Underground and were obvious to include.

There is nothing on Pop Art, Paul Rand graphics, Metzger influence on Pete Townshend is covered in a mention, nor are French cinema style, Bacon and Soho, Ellsworth Kelly, Alexander Calder, Mondrian, Isokon, Mod oriented pop artists such as Michael Cooper or Warren Chalk, not included . Early Modernist art in UK pre WWII is not mentioned at all, nor are many key exhibitions such as Situation. Tominsky and Robert Fraser galleries not covered either.

Books such as Art in the Sixties or Burning A Box of Beautiful Things are much better on the subject. This has more coverage of 1970s-80s Mod Fanzines than the subject of the book (there is a new book about Fanzines that this overlaps without need).

Other writing by the author on Mod is excellent, but it is quite obvious he does not know much about the modern art appreciated by Mods at the time. It's at the level of the recent Peter Blake documentary on Sky that was all about his album covers and barely touched on his art. Here there is nothing on the influence of style, film and art from France that was so pivotal to shaping Mod in 1960, or the Italian colour schemes and design of the 1950s. The springboard for second wave British Modernism that was the Festival of Britain isn't covered (it was an opportunity for young designers and musicians for the first time).

I could go on, others will notice their particular interests in Mod related art and design missing such as Eames, Warhol (I used to wear the Monroe print as a Mod image on a t-shirt) or Roy Lichtenstein (whose pixelated Pop Art prints on T-shirts became a Mod style for a while in the 1980s). The omissions may also be to do with the cost of including copyrighted images but we don't know as they just aren't mentioned.

By about half way through the book it is no longer about art at all it seems and covering Punk turning into Mod, revivial cover art though sadly not the Kent soul LP covers by Ian Clark (worthy of their own book). There are more fanzine covers from the Mod revival era than there is coverage of actual proper art with Mod relevance from the original era. These were fun to us at the time but never art.

Town magazine is mentioned but the early modernist-surreal art work by Ian Dury when he was a graphic designer/artist whilst still a young clothes obsessed Mod about town (buying from Sam Arkus) prior to becoming a teacher and highly individual rock star, not here. That's a shame as it prefigured Monty Python. The pop art of bands like The Eyes & The Attack, or auto-destruction by The Move and The Nice at their start isn't included either.

There's so much that a bit more research and reading could of opened up in this book. A subject that is long overdue for such coverage, which just isn't in this book. There is no index or references mentioned. I have all the books this cribs from, read them and this is very shallow indeed. Most reviewers won't of read any of them so this will superficially look great. That the book doesn't credit the work of others it reuses is not on, as almost all authors know.

This book was delayed a number of times and to me it feels like the author gave up writing a book specifically on Mod Art and rewrote another generic book on Mod visuals. He's already fundamentally written most of this book and published it before.

It looks nice, the page layouts are okay though lack much imagination compared to his own earlier book. Some of the pictures are good and useful, but there is very little actual Mod art imagery which is a shame.

It is not a book on Mod Art, or art in even it's loosest sense., it's a book on visual aspects of Mod with a fairly wide and shallow net. Ironically it could then of covered films such as Small World of Sammy Lee, Blow Up, Smashing Time & Performance (it does Quadrophenia of course), 1950s French cinema, mid-century design, Jazz album cover art on Blue Note, art in John Simons and more but does not. It's an okay assortment without any narrative to join it together.

I have been involved in Mod and modernism (style, art, design etc) for approaching forty years and read and explored widely beyond the core Mod lifestyle into wider aspects. This book will be for those who only care about the Who/Jam end of Mod. That's fine but not what this book is called or supposed to be about. It is not competent on its subject and it is incorrect to pretend it is about Mod/Pop art in anything other than a cursory way. It genuinely is disappointing to write this review but readers should be aware given the title.

Some will love the book, it will sell well and I bought it too. It will get five star reviews but that will be by those who are just enamoured to get a nice book on Mod. And it is nice, but it's not about Mod art. The revival era imagery gets more coverage than the 50s-60s. Original Mods buying the book will often will be fairly cross I think and not recognise their scene from much of the book, those from later eras will enjoy it more. I gave it a quick read and filed it away then later resold it. Some will criticise or disagree with my reivew and that's fine, but please do go and check the artists I mention, I've been a Mod/modernist for forty years and explored its culture a lot - most of the relevant content that could of been included isn't here.

Just type 'Robyn Denny London mural' into a search engine and you'll see what's missing. That mural was Austin Reed on Regent Street's response to threatening emergence of Carnaby Street a back street away. It was traditional menswear scared of Mod fashion, then incorporating it (and then opening Cue as Mod oriented menswear two years later). When the Beatles came to London for the first time in 1963 it was that mural they were photographed in front of, combining art, music and style all at once (ironically they were photographed in black and white). It was so Modern that the Beatles and that mural both represented the new together.

That mural was the first instance of red, white and blue becoming the iconic Mod colours consciously after Peter Blake's Pop Art use in 1960. Can you believe that? Before the RAF roundel, this was it and it is not included., That moment is probably the very one when underground Mod ethos and the emerging sixties pop collided and London went overground. Ironically, this isn't in there but Austin Reed adopting Mod fashion by setting up Cue with Lloyd Johnson serving is (still around, still selling ace clothes). That it is not in this book is a huge omission. It was also when the torn up typography influenced Jamie Reid later on in Punk. How can it not be here? Especially when there is a linked section on Punk turning into Mod. I can only assume the author was completely unaware. But I wasn't there at the time either, I've just read around and explored the development of art, design and typography.

It has to be said, there is far too much on the revival era and hardly anything at all on the early aspect of Mod. I do not understand the Mod inspired recent art, which is pretty basic. It starts to feel like filler. If we wanted a book on Ivy League clothes (which I do appreciate), Mod club posters, Fanzines or Jam album covers there are better (including ironically his own earlier book).

So I looked forward to this with great interest, enjoyed other books by the author and know his commitment, but here the promise is not quite realised. Please do also read the author's reply below my review, which he took time to write and is appreciated. It adds context to the book and this review.

Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2022-02-18 05:42:00)

I thought there might have been shops in Soho and Chelsea.  Is that right?

That post by AUS is slightly-mind blowing but highly interesting to me as I'm just reading Lucy Lippard's 'Pop Art' for the first time since 2005.  The chapter on the British scene by Lawrence Alloway is perhaps more relevant here than Lippard's own work.

I thought there might have been shops in Soho and Chelsea.  Is that right?

Definitely Soho & Kings Rd AFS

I don't remember there being a Squire Shop near Bond St. station - there was definitely one in Brewer St. though, somewhere near Lina Stores I think? I could be wrong though!

I'm pretty sure I saw that movie AUS mentions a few years ago.  Directed by Michael Reeves, who died very, very young indeed.

Thanks guys - one day I will get back to the blog! It was primarily done as a note book for myself.  Some of the tools that worked on it were dismantled by the new owners of Tumblr. It is nice to have it still up. My idea was to make sure I had the images so as sites and brands disappeared- they were still available.

Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2022-02-18 11:53:59)

I think some time ago Woof mentioned he’d visited T.Burrows on James St and wasnt impressed with the grumpy Scotch guy in there,about 5 years ago I popped in there after a visit to JS, he noticed the carrier bag and started a conversation, apparently he worked for the Squire shop , Cassidy set up in a back office position, he had a nice frame on the wall of the various labels they had back in the day, I wouldn’t have minded that adorning a wall at home,

I would've liked to known the name of the Scottish guy from T Burrows, because the guy who was managing the Ivy Shop Windsor was Scottish and an old Squire Shop/Village Gate employee, apparently he was ripping off Ian Strachan, which was one of the reasons it closed down.

You're probably right Stax, the guy who managed the Ivy Shop Windsor was called Kit, I think he left well before it closed down. He had a side line selling second hand records mainly easy listening, this was pre internet so it was mail order (he was quite successful). Back then I was also a big record collector and I would bump into him at Record Fairs. I became a big fan of Richie Cole around that time on his recommendation.
There was a young lad in there about the same age as me at the time, whose name was Gary (I think).

Last edited by Runninggeez (2022-02-19 06:00:17)

I remember the Brewer Street Squire shop was close to a strip club as RobbieB mentioned. We approached from Regent Street side though. Never ventured in to the strip clubs, but when we failed to gatecrash a party we ventured up to Soho for a mooch around with little cash in our pockets.

There was also a Squire shop somewhere along the middle of Oxford Street, so it may well have been near Bond Street Tube.

'John has always said it was the best of all of his shops - best interior, best location, best range of clothes'

I'm surprised that he thought that the Brewer St was his best shop. I remember it being a small, cramped shop. The interior was good but did it really have the best range of clothes? I suspect it was the shop that made the most sales and profit however. Maybe that's why JS remembers it fondly. He didn't really like his younger customers back then did he?

I think there may have been two Squire shops on the south side of Oxford St and two Village Gate shops on the north side but it was a long time ago and the memory is fading.

Someone ought to write something - but I strongly suspect, in this digital age, it will either never be done or whatever was done would be dire.  Maybe John has his record already, with his documentary: something I still cannot bring myself to watch lest the whiff of bullshit is too overpowering.
Perhaps Chiltern Street is the biggest of the shops to date - is it?

Robbie - you're right JS didn't like the young guns in his shops, John Lally was always very friendly and helpful,as was Kevin Kavanagh in later years, TBH in the early days of visiting the Ivy Shop I always got the feeling most of the guys working there sort of looked down on us 15-16 yr olds, even in later years you could get the feeling you were entering some private club where you weren't particularly welcome, maybe that contributed to the demise of the IS Richmond, just a personal opinion you understand, Squire Shop Brewer St, I think there was a basement there where they had the suits, jackets, trousers, I never bought anything Ivy from Brewer St, plenty of ' French Look' suits, jackets,trousers, floppy collared shirts, well it was the '70's !