Rare & Important Travel Posters October 25 at Swann Galleries
New York - An auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters at Swann Galleries on Thursday, October 25 promises thrills and worldwide destinations, abound with works highlighting transportation as well as renowned graphic artists.
The sale is led by a pair of winter vacation posters. Emil Cardinaux’s St. Moritz, 1918, portrays colorfully clad cross-country skiers and horse-drawn sleighs winding their way through the snow (Estimate: $15,000-20,000). Burkhard Mangold, a pioneer in modern Swiss poster art, is present in the sale with the 1914, Winter in Davos ($12,000-18,000).
Brightly colored British poster maps are led by Leslie McDonald Gill’s Peter-Pan Map of Kensington Gardens, 1923, and The Country Bus Service Map, 1928, each are estimated at $3,000 to $4,000.
Posters advertising travel by land and air include a scene by Philip Zec highlighting the LMS Railway making its overnight trek to Scotland by moonlight ($12,000-18,000). Harold McCready’s Imperial Airways, 1929, delineates one of the airline’s three-engine aircrafts ($4,000-6,000). Zeppelin lots include Jupp Wiertz’s En 2 Jours vers L’Amérique du Nord!, 1936, which depicts the failed Hindenburg Zeppelin soaring over Manhattan, as well as Ottomar Anton’s Nach Südamerika in 3 Tagen!, 1936, which features the Graf Zeppelin, the sister ship of the Hindenburg, spanning the Atlantic Ocean ($8,000-12,000 and $4,000-6,000, respectively).
Ocean liner posters make a grand appearance in the sale with one of the larger offerings at Swann in recent years. Several works highlight the Cunard Line, including a majestic image of one of their four-funnel ocean liners sailing off into the sunset, circa 1920, and a circa 1925 poster by Kenneth D. Shoesmith, depicting the Aquatania being tugged out of the New York harbor ($1,500-2,000 and $7,000-10,000, respectively). Albert Sebille’s Frenchline, circa 1927, shows a bird’s-eye view of the Ile de France pulling into the harbor ($3,000-4,000).
Lots from a private collection include several posters by Chicago artist William P. Welsh advertising the Pullman Railway Company. Equipped with brilliant colors and Art Deco-styled patterns, the six Pullman posters were created between 1934 and 1935 and showcase the reduced rates, safety and comfort of the rail company.
Works that highlight leisure activities include Andrew Johnson’s North Berwick, circa 1930, which promotes Scottish golf, and Septimus Edwin Scott’s The Tennis Girl, circa 1925, advertises the Geneagles hotel and golf resort ($8,000-12,000 and $5,000-7,500, respectively).
A premier selection of work by Sascha Maurer features examples of his work for The Pennsylvania Railroad, including the cover lot of the sale, Atlantic City, circa 1940, starring a woman shielding her eyes from the bright Atlantic sun with the reflection of Atlantic City’s boardwalk in her sunglasses ($3,000-4,000).
A fleet of colorful works by Roger Broders are led by beach scenes. Antibes, circa 1928, a rare variant without the overprint, showcases two sunbathing women, and La Plage de Calvi. Corse, 1928, features a towel-clad woman standing with her face towards the sky, each are valued at $8,000 to $12,000.
