Brain Gerald art drawn postcard of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938, Scottish Avenue Showing Tower and Restaurant. This view also shows the Times Building and one of the Scotland Pavilions (to left):-

Black and white Valentine’s postcard, Scottish Avenue from West:-

In March we dropped into the V&A, Dundee for something to do.

We came across a small exhibition of postcards by Valentine’s, once a Dundee institution.

According to the V&A site this exhibition was supposed to end in January 2023!

I have many Valentine’s postcards in my collection especially those of the 1938 Empire Exhibition.

I had not realised, though, that Valentine’s themselves had constructed for them an Art Deco building on Dundee’s Kingsway, as these two postcards from the V&A Exhibition attest. The building is now long gone:-

Also on display was this postcard of Portobello Bathing Pool:-

Images of Portobello Bathing Pool in its heyday are here.

Brilliant coloured postcards of the South Cascade and Tower by Night at the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938. The A697 code number on the left hand one tells me it is an Art Drawn card by Brian Gerald. The more muted one on the right is to all intents and purposes identical though it is missing the UnionJack on the Tower’s flgapole. Despite its different code number it was also produced by the same postcard company, Valentine’s. I suppose it may have faded over time but on the other hand it may have been printed this way. My copy of it claims to be a real photograph.

Stunning stuff, whatever.

The Tower of Empire (Tait’s Tower) was certainly impressive. More so at night, judging by these.

Another artist drawn postcard of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland, 1938. This time the United Kingdom Pavilion building.

The artist who drew the paintings featured on these postcards, issued by the manufacturer Valentine’s, was called Brian Gerald. A list of all the cards he painted can be found here.