Swann Galleries’ annual auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters on Friday, November 11 offers many seldom-seen images from around the world, and marks the first time several of them have come to auction.
Frederick C. Herrick, London’s Underground / Nightly Carnival, 1924. Estimate: $3,000 to $4,000.
A strong selection of British posters includes Frederick C. Herrick’s London’s Underground / Nightly Carnival, 1924 ($3,000 to $4,000); one of the two golf posters designed by Tom Purvis for Cruden Bay, circa 1925 ($10,000 to $15,000); Montague Birrell Black’s futuristic view of London in This Is All in the Air / To-day –the Solid Comfort of the Underground, 1926 ($5,000 to $7,500); and Henry George Gawthorn’s cheerful beach image, Redcar, 1930 ($8,000 to $12,000).
A colorful assortment of Canadian posters also features an image by Tom Purvis, this one with an elegant woman in a wide-brimmed hat leaning against a cruise ship’s rail, called Canadian Pacific / Happy Cruises, 1937 ($4,000 to $6,000).
Among the American highlights is a dazzling circa 1929 piece for Montauk Beach that captures the panache of the Jazz Age, and indeed, looks like a scene right out of The Great Gatsby, and is one of very few known copies ($12,000 to $18,000). From the same era is a previously unknown Art Deco image by Millar for Special Showing / General Motors Cars, Chicago, 1929 ($4,000 to $6,000). Other Chicago images include Ervin Metzl’s ad for the Rapid Transit Line, 1924 ($4,000 to $6,000); Willard Frederic Elmes’s rare view of the statue of Logan in Grant Park, 1924 ($6,000 to $9,000); and five scarce designs for the 1933 World’s Fair by Glen C. Sheffer, Weimer Pursell and Hernando G. Villa.
For the New York World’s fair in 1939, there are posters by Joseph Binder, Sascha Maurer, and, the catalogue’s cover lot, S. Hine’s Eastern Air Lines / Fly to the New York World’s Fair, which is the rarest of all New York World’s Fair posters, and is making its auction debut ($1,500 to $2,000).
Other eye-grabbing U.S. works are California / This Summer, a romantic view from the vantage point of a young woman in a flowing dress, circa 1933 ($6,000 to $9,000); and Edward M. Eggleston’s Billy Rose’s Aquacade, Cleveland, 1936, which is reminiscent of his famous Atlantic City poster ($3,000 to $4,000).
Classic European posters with sporty themes are Candido Aragonese de Faria’s circa 1910 charming views of activities at Cachat’s Majestic in Chamonix, in both winter ($7,000 to $10,000) and summer ($4,000 to $6,000); and Emil Cardinaux’s ice skaters at Palace Hotel / St. Moritz, Zurich, 1921 ($10,000 to $15,000).
A run of posters promoting travel to Australia includes Gert Sellheim’s avant-garde Australia / Surf Club, Melbourne, circa 1936 ($3,000 to $4,000); and five of Eileen Mayo’s images featuring indigenous animals, such as fish at The Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, circa 1956 ($3,000 to $4,000), Koala, and a kangaroo, 1957 ($2,000 to $3,000 each).
Among the auction’s highest priced pieces are posters promoting ocean liner travel, with those mentioning disaster ships among the rarest and most sought after. There is a Cunard Line poster depicting the Lusitania and the Mauretania, circa 1907, which is coming to auction for the first time ($12,000 to $15,000); and a White Star Line Titanic broadside advertising third-class tariffs for the ship’s return voyage, 1912 ($15,000 to $20,000). Also featured is A.M. Cassandre’s iconic Normandie / Voyage Inaugural, Paris, 1935 ($15,000 to $20,000).
Stylish aviation highlights are Roger Jourdain’s Aérodrome de Vichy, a very early and rare advertisement for an all but forgotten airshow, 1909 ($8,000 to $12,000); a pair of posters for Oberurseler Umlaufmotor / Motorfabrik Oberursel by Ludwig Hohlwein, Frankfurt, circa 1915 ($6,000 to $9,000 each); Ottomar Anton’s dirigible image, To Europe by Zeppelin, Hamburg, 1936 ($3,000 to $4,000); a previously undocumented Alitalia image by Corrado Mancioli, Rome, circa 1948 ($2,000 to $3,000); and David Klein’s modern masterpiece, New York / Fly TWA, circa 1960 ($3,000 to $4,000).
Lower image: Montauk Beach, circa 1929. Estimate: $12,000 to $18,000.
