Oliver Percy Bernard

He was instrumental in developing conservative Victorian British taste in a modernist European direction; much of his work is frequently characterised as art deco.

Oliver Bernard experienced an unhappy childhood in London and, on the death of his father in 1894, left for Manchester to take a job as a stage hand in a theatre.

[5] In 1916, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a camouflage officer, serving in France, Italy and Belgium, reaching the rank of captain.

[3] In 1919, Bernard continued his theatrical work, designing sets for Sir Thomas Beecham's Ring Cycle at Covent Garden.

[3] He became a consultant to the Board of Overseas Trade, overhauling the lighting and stage management at the Admiralty Theatre of H. M. Government Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, where he also designed displays.

His IMCO building was the subject of a 2012 film by the Irish artist Gavin Murphy, and formed part of a subsequent publication On Seeing Only Totally New Things Archived 5 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, that also includes the first comprehensive and illustrated account of Bernard's life and work.

[3] From this relationship, the couple had two daughters and three sons including the poet and translator Oliver Bernard who attended the Westminster School and later published a book of memoirs.