Eric Lancaster, son of an English father and French mother, was educated in France. He studied under Carlu at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and later became his assistant and eventually his partner. He worked with him on the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937 and an exhibition, ‘France at War’, in 1945. He was designer to the French National Tourist Office, responsible for all their leaflets. He designed book jackets, magazines, and, until his death, was art director of the Dorland Advertising, Paris. The multi-coloured clown for Novacolour paint is a typical product personification of that period.