Woman having a bubble bath, 1950

Woman having a bubble bath, 1950. A photograph of a woman having a bubble bath, taken by Photographic Advertising Limited in 1950. This popular image was sold around the world to agencies in Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland and Australia. It was also used as a poster in the lifts at Russell Square Underground station to advertise the foam baths at London's Imperial Hotel. Photographic Advertising Limited, founded in 1926, created multi-purpose stock images with the potential for selling a range of products. Whilst enjoying its greatest success during the 1930s, it continued in business until 1977. Their trademark, the staged studio photograph resembling a film still, was its selling point and, later, its downfall. Sophisticated, adaptable and generic, this kind of image gradually fell out of favour as clients increasingly demanded targeted advertising campaigns with specific photographs. ©SSPL/NMeM/Photographic Advertising