12 years of Art & Hue, 731 prints & 5 unsung icons

16th July 2026

Marking 12 years of Art & Hue this month

This month marks 12 years of Art & Hue – an unbelievable milestone because it still feels like yesterday that Art & Hue was born.

On the 26th of July 2014, Art & Hue was registered as a website and usernames on social media networks.

I won’t go over the history again (I’ve covered the first decade online here) but it’s not just the quick passing of time that’s been surprising.

Firstly, it’s extraordinary to calculate that there are now currently 731 stylish pop art prints to choose from – available in three sizes and many colour options – mostly in-house “studio” prints but also official collaborations with others including Studiocanal and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, plus there’s always the option to create bespoke prints from your own photographs.

Secondly, one of the most surprising realisations of creating collections over the past twelve years has been discovering overlooked and unsung figures during the research process – people who had a profound influence on popular culture, but who worked behind the scenes or have simply faded from public memory.

Now, these figures may be well known to film & TV historians and academics but they came as a personal revelation to me.

A case in point is Thorold Dickinson. Audrey Hepburn had bit parts previously, in films like “The Lavender Hill Mob”, but Dickinson cast Audrey in her first main film role in the Ealing film “Secret People”. However, it was what Thorold did next that earns him a special place in cinema history. Dickinson filmed a screen test of Audrey which he sent to William Wyler. Wyler was so impressed that he wrote to thank Thorold for his excellent screen test which led to her casting, and subsequent Best Actress Oscar win, in “Roman Holiday”. Without Thorold Dickinson spotlighting Audrey’s talent, her iconic performances in Hollywood classics, such as “Funny Face”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Charade”, & “My Fair Lady”, may never have happened.
Read more about Thorold Dickinson here.

65 years since Audrey's screen test for Roman Holiday

Equally, stunt performers are deliberately obscured to make it appear as though the star is performing all their own daring action, but if it weren’t for legendary figures like Cyd Child, Emma Peel might not have had the global impact she did. Doubling The Avengers women (Emma Peel, Tara King, & Purdey) from the colour series onwards, Cyd worked closely with Diana Rigg to ensure audiences couldn’t see the join, taking note of each other’s movements to continue them seamlessly into the next edit. Thankfully Cyd, aka Chris Gallie, has recently written a book about her fascinating life to document everything, without which we wouldn’t have this vital insight into The Avengers or The New Avengers.

Had the pleasure of meeting up with Cyd earlier this year – see the feature online here.

Then there’s Seth Holt. His name might not be on everyone’s lips, but his fingerprints are all over some of the greatest British films ever made, including “Kind Hearts & Coronets“. As an editor, he helped craft the Ealing comedy of “Hue & Cry“, “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Titfield Thunderbolt“. As a producer, he worked on “The Ladykillers“, and as a director, he gave Maggie Smith her first big break in the Brit noir “Nowhere to Go“, and brought a tense, stylish eye to Hammer Horror. He was a major talent of the industry, yet his career was tragically cut short when he died at just 47 during the filming of “Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb“. Not entirely unsung – Holt has earned praise from the likes of Martin Scorsese – but a name which is rarely spoken. Read more about Seth Holt here.

We also owe a debt to directors like Gilbert Gunn, another name that deserves to be remembered. While history recalls the iconic comedic geniuses of British cinema, it often forgets the people who discovered them. A Scottish film director and casting director, Gunn gave Kenneth Williams his first ever credited film role in “Valley of Song“. Clifford Evans gave Kenneth his break in the theatre but before the Carry On films, there was Gunn, giving him a foot in the film studio door, sparking a career that would shape British comedy for decades to come. Gilbert Gunn may not be a name that trips off the tongue, but without him, British comedy might have looked, and sounded, very different indeed.

Read more about Gilbert Gunn here.

And the unsung influence extends straight into modern global streetwear with Alun Hughes.

Hughes was the costume designer who put stripes on Emma Peel’s catsuits for the first colour series of “The Avengers“. Moving on from the leather of the black & white episodes, Emma Peel’s jumpsuits were made from modern fabrics in fresh colours, designed by Alun Hughes, and were nicknamed “Emmapeelers”.

They were a precursor to the ubiquitous striped athletic tracksuits, which didn’t debut until late 1967, after Mrs Peel made her colour TV return on the 13th of January 1967. The striped arms on Emma’s catsuits still look modern to this day.

While basic tracksuits existed before “The Avengers“, it was Hughes who had the brilliant graphic instinct to put bold stripes down the arms and legs of Emma Peel’s wardrobe.

His influence rippled outwards: a line can be traced from Emma’s striking jumpsuits to Bruce Lee’s yellow outfit with the black stripes for his final film, the unfinished “Game of Death”, which itself inspired Uma Thurman’s iconic look in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”. An influential career – yet a name that, outside of Avengers fandom, is rarely spoken in the same revered tones as Mary Quant or John Bates, the designer of Emma Peel’s op-art wardrobe for her black-and-white episodes.
Read more about Alun Hughes and Emma Peel’s fashion here.

So not only has it been enjoyable researching and creating pop art collections since 2014, to bring style & colour to walls, it’s also been an educational eye-opener to discover the influence these unsung icons had on popular culture.

The response to Art & Hue collections over the past 12 years has been phenomenal, and it’s wonderful to know that there are Art & Hue prints in homes globally (including across the EU as EU shipping comes to an end this month). It’s also great to know that the subjects that inspire Art & Hue have resonated so deeply with art buyers, whether it’s “The Avengers“, mid-century architecture, fashion, or music.

Because every single pop art order is printed on demand using fine art giclée pigment inks on museum-quality archival cotton card, these prints are designed to stay vibrant for generations – ensuring these iconic eras, and the incredible people who shaped them, are never forgotten.

It’s been fabulous to connect over the past dozen years on topics that resonate with others and that keep these cultural moments alive.