Dazzling Sea & Rail Travel Posters at Swann Galleries
NEW YORK—Swann Galleries’ annual auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters on Friday, October 18, features images of diverse geographical locations from the deserts of the Mideast to the alpine resorts of Europe, in addition to bold depictions of trains, ocean liners and airplanes.
The auction features two majestic Art Deco ship posters by A.M. Cassandre, The Continent via Harwich, 1928 (estimate: $6,000 to $9,000) and L’Atlantique, 1931 ($20,000 to $30,000); a grand depiction of the Normandie/French Line at night, with lights reflecting off the water, by Hubert Herkomer, 1939 ($15,000 to $20,000); Samuel John Milton Brown’s Cunard Line/Europe-America, which shows the Lusitania and the Mauretania at sea, circa 1907; Frank Newbould’s view of New York Harbor in To Europe via America/The “Big Ship” Route, circa 1920 ($4,000 to $6,000 each); and two of Lester Beall’s patriotic posters for the United States Lines.
High-flying highlights include some very early aviation exhibition posters, such as The Nation, State and City Welcome the World’s Greatest Aviators, with portraits of the Wright brothers incorporated into the artwork, 1909 ($15,000 to $20,000); Wrights/Flugvorführungen, for an event in the skies over Berlin, 1909 ($12,000 to $18,000); René Hermann-Paul’s Aérodrome de Cannes, 1909 ($10,000 to $15,000) and Charles Tichon’s Semaine d”aviation de Lyon, 1910 ($8,000 to $12,000).
More modernist are Kees van der Laan’s horizontal-format Leert Vliegen, for the Dutch national flying school, 1931 ($5,000 to $7,500); Guy Arnoux’s Air France/Amérique du Nord, 1946 ($2,000 to $3,000); and Henri Ott’s 1950s posters for Swissair.
Powerful locomotive images include a tempera maquette by Sam Hyde Harris of The Imperial/Los Angeles-Chicago, circa 1939 ($4,000 to $6,000); Munetsugu Satomi’s Cote d’Azur, 1934 ($1,500 to $2,000); several posters by Bern Hill, among them Louisville & Nashville/The Old Reliable and Scenic Route to the East, circa 1950s ($1,200 to $1,800 each); and an atypical machine-age image by Roger Broders, Marseille, circa 1929 ($3,000 to $4,000).
Among classic examples of Broders’s work are the glamorous ocean view in Saine-Maxime, 1929 ($4,000 to $6,000); sun-dappled Rome, 1921 ($2,500 to $3,500); and dynamic skiing posters Sports d’Hiver, circa 1929 and Les Sports d’Hiver/St. Pierre de Chartreuse, 1930 ($8,000 to $12,000 each).
Other winter-sport highlights are Roger Soubie’s image of a lovely young woman ice-skating in Chamonix/Mont Blanc, 1924 ($2,500 to $3,500); Leonetto Cappiello’s Superbagnères/Luchon, 1929 ($8,000 to $12,000); and Emil Cardniaux’s Jungfrau-Railway, 1928 ($1,200 to $1,800).
Warm-weather sports include Yachting/Sport on the LMS by Norman Wilkinson, circa 1924 ($3,000 to $4,000); Ireland/The Fisherman’s Paradise/Great Southern Rys, circa 1925 ($1,500 to $2,000); and a plethora of summer fun in the Gastby-esque Montauk Beach, circa 1929 ($12,000 to $18,000).
Additional tempting American vacation destinations are New York/The Upper Bay from Lower Manhattan, depicted by Leslie Ragan in the original tempera on board maquette and the resulting poster, 1935 ($8,000 to $12,000 each); Edward Eggleston’s bathing beauty for Atlantic City/America’s Great Seashore Resort, circa 1935 ($6,000 to $9,000); and golden views of California such as M. Gundlach’s Southern California/Go via Union Pacific System, circa 1920 ($4,000 to $6,000).
British rail gems include Wilkinson’s London/Whitehall from St. James Park, circa 1930 ($3,000 to $4,000); Peter Irwin Brown’s electric-colored Your Continental Holiday, 1932 ($7,000 to $10,000); and Terrance Cuneo’s Forging Ahead/British Railways, circa 1955 ($3,000 to $4,000).
There are also captivating images for travel to far-flung destinations including Gert Sellheim and Percy Trompf posters for Australia, as well as Bali, Brazil, Egypt, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and more.
The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 18.
The posters will be on public exhibition Monday, October 14 through Thursday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Friday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to noon.
A full-color illustrated auction catalogue is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Nicholas Lowry at (212) 254-4710 ext. 53, or via e-mail at posters@swanngalleries.com. Live online bidding is also available via Artfact.com.
First image: Peter Irwin Brown, Your Continental Holiday, 1932 (estimate: $7,000 to $10,000).
Second image: A.M. Cassandre, L’Atlantique, 1931 (estimate: $20,000 to $30,000).
