His work was almost always pleasing, so below are more examples for your viewing pleasure.
Showing posts with label Posters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Posters. Show all posts
Thursday, January 2, 2020
More Fred Taylor Poster Art
I wrote here about Fred Taylor (1875-1963), best known for his London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) poster art during the 1920s and 1930s.
His work was almost always pleasing, so below are more examples for your viewing pleasure.
Gallery
The illustration part of a larger poster.
Showing Queen Elizabeth I's 1564 visit to King's College Chapel, Cambridge. I was there once for Evensong, and it strikes me that the height of the interior seems a bit exaggerated in part because the size of the people seems too small.
Moderne architecture required similarly simplified treatment.
Seen from the far side of the Neckar River.
An unusual view, and not what a 1920s tourist would ever see.
A 1930s vintage poster when Taylor and other illustrators simplified their styles to conform to artistic fashion.
A little fuzzy because the original was slightly smaller. Nevertheless, a nicely done scene.
His work was almost always pleasing, so below are more examples for your viewing pleasure.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Poster: Stadtbahnstation Karlsplatz, Vienna
Otto Koloman Wagner (1841-1918) was one of the first architects to move away from Classicism towards Modernism. His mature style was something of a geometrical version of the Art Nouveau style or Jugendstil, as it was known in German speaking countries. A brief biography is here.
One of his noteworthy creations was the 1899 Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station in Vienna -- the Stadtbahn being the municipal railway system.
Ten years or so ago when I was visiting Vienna, I noticed a poster dealing with the Karlsplatz station building in a display window. I continued walking for a short distance, but then turned back to the shop because I felt I had to have that poster (and I almost never buy posters).
I know nothing about the poster's origin. It incorporates elements of architectural presentations, but might possibly be a presentation in itself created by Wagner's firm.
Here it is: click on the images to enlarge.
Gallery
A slightly cropped photo I took of my poster.
I find these women charmingly depicted. Whoever drew them knew what he was doing artistically. When I was taking first-year architectural design, most renderings on display showed people as blobs with legs.
One of his noteworthy creations was the 1899 Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station in Vienna -- the Stadtbahn being the municipal railway system.
Ten years or so ago when I was visiting Vienna, I noticed a poster dealing with the Karlsplatz station building in a display window. I continued walking for a short distance, but then turned back to the shop because I felt I had to have that poster (and I almost never buy posters).
I know nothing about the poster's origin. It incorporates elements of architectural presentations, but might possibly be a presentation in itself created by Wagner's firm.
Here it is: click on the images to enlarge.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Harrogate Travel Posters from the LNER
During the 1920s and 1930s Britain had four major privately owned passenger railway systems that operated on a largely regional basis. That is, each had a core area that it essentially dominated, but also had tendrils that were in areas of others. So there was some direct competition, but that was generally minor aside from, for instance, the London Midland & Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway (the LNER) both serving Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Besides the relatively minor case of overlapping destinations, the greatest competition seems to have involved attracting tourists and vacationers to places within core service areas. For example, the Great Western Railway would publicize Cornwall while the LNER would be touting Scarborough, leaving potential travelers to mull over which site to select.
To keep advertising fresh from season to season and year to year, railroad companies often used different poster designers over time instead of sticking to one artist doing multiple works for the same destination (though that was done too). This rotation was the policy of LNER.
As an example of this, below are LNER posters for the spa city of Harrogate in Yorkshire, not far west of York.
Gallery
By Frank Brangwyn.
By Lilian Hocknell.
By Austin Cooper.
By Arthur C. Michael.
By Fred Taylor.
By Joseph Greenup.
By Tom Purvis.
By Frank Newbould.
Besides the relatively minor case of overlapping destinations, the greatest competition seems to have involved attracting tourists and vacationers to places within core service areas. For example, the Great Western Railway would publicize Cornwall while the LNER would be touting Scarborough, leaving potential travelers to mull over which site to select.
To keep advertising fresh from season to season and year to year, railroad companies often used different poster designers over time instead of sticking to one artist doing multiple works for the same destination (though that was done too). This rotation was the policy of LNER.
As an example of this, below are LNER posters for the spa city of Harrogate in Yorkshire, not far west of York.
Monday, June 4, 2018
Fred Taylor: Poster Art for the LNER and Others
Fred Taylor (1875-1963) was one of the many talented artists who created art for British railway company travel posters.
Biographical information on him is truly sketchy. A National Railway Museum publication in my library has the following:
"Born in London, he studied at Goldsmith's College and worked at the Waring and Gillow Studio. In 1930 he was commissioned to design four ceiling paintings for the Underwriting Room at Lloyd's and murals for Reed's Lacquer Room. He worked in naval camouflage during the Second World War. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and other galleries in London, and worked for the Empire Marketing Board, LNER, London Transport and several shopping companies."
And that's all I could find. The above blurb essentially deals with what he did starting at age 55.
The images below are of some of the poster art he did for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) along with a few others in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of his 1930s work for LNER is similar in style to that of Tom Purvis, a more critically acclaimed poster artist who I wrote about here. Most of his poster illustrations are made in more traditional styles. Regardless, they are skillfully done. They were also popular with the general public, if the criterion is sales of posters. Moreover, Taylor was the best-paid LNER poster artist.
Gallery
Judging by the costumes, this was probably done in the early-to-mid 1920s.
Even though I've sailed from there, I had't realized that once upon a time Harwich was a port for steamships going to Belgium, Germany, etc. Note some items projecting beyond the frame at the left.
A Tom Purvis style poster. Perhaps the LNER at the time was interested in consistent images.
Petergate, in York: Minster in the background.
Historical scene: Captain Cook's departure in 1776.
Two railroads cited here, so I'm not sure who commissioned this.
It seems Taylor also did some work for the GWR.
Subtle color scheme for a travel poster, but nice.
A city close to York, and well worth a short visit.
Evocative Piccadilly Circus illustration. This was done in 1925.
Biographical information on him is truly sketchy. A National Railway Museum publication in my library has the following:
"Born in London, he studied at Goldsmith's College and worked at the Waring and Gillow Studio. In 1930 he was commissioned to design four ceiling paintings for the Underwriting Room at Lloyd's and murals for Reed's Lacquer Room. He worked in naval camouflage during the Second World War. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and other galleries in London, and worked for the Empire Marketing Board, LNER, London Transport and several shopping companies."
And that's all I could find. The above blurb essentially deals with what he did starting at age 55.
The images below are of some of the poster art he did for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) along with a few others in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of his 1930s work for LNER is similar in style to that of Tom Purvis, a more critically acclaimed poster artist who I wrote about here. Most of his poster illustrations are made in more traditional styles. Regardless, they are skillfully done. They were also popular with the general public, if the criterion is sales of posters. Moreover, Taylor was the best-paid LNER poster artist.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Austin Cooper: Posters to Abstraction
Austin Cooper (1890-1964) was a Canadian-born British poster artist who, before he died, must have discovered that an automobile (the Austin Mini Cooper) was his namesake. Kidding aside, Cooper was one of a group of illustrators who created travel posters using a similar technique for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), especially during the 1930s.
His Wikipedia entry mentions that he moved across the Atlantic a few times but finally settled in England following his service in the Canadian army in the Great War. Besides creating posters, he managed a school of commercial art in the late 1930s, then abandoned illustration in the mid-1940s to pursue fine arts. Some of his abstract paintings are in the Tate collection.
Gallery
It's not clear to me what this poster was promoting, though the smokestacks are painted Canadian Pacific colors.
One of a series with the same theme and style.
Probably from the late 1920s.
He did a few posters for Indian Railways.
For a 1931 exhibit at the V&A.
This, from 1932.
This is a highly unusual style for a LNER poster. It was done around the mid-1930s, judging by the woman's clothing.
Abstraction 200/62 - 1957-1962
His Wikipedia entry mentions that he moved across the Atlantic a few times but finally settled in England following his service in the Canadian army in the Great War. Besides creating posters, he managed a school of commercial art in the late 1930s, then abandoned illustration in the mid-1940s to pursue fine arts. Some of his abstract paintings are in the Tate collection.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
E. McKnight Kauffer, Ace Poster Artist
Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954), who signed his work E. McNight Kauffer and was called Ted, spent most of his career in England even though he was born in Great Falls, Montana. Sources dealing with his life and career are here, here and here.
Kauffer was studying art in Paris when the Great War broke out. He stopped off in London on his way to the USA, but liked the town and decided to stay there. He had an appreciation for simplification inspired by Modernism, probably gained while in Paris. Moreover, he was fortunate with respect to the timing of his arrival in London. For one thing, he was able to find some clients who also appreciated modernist touches in poster design. For another, being a foreigner from a neutral (at the time) country allowed him to work while other artists his age either volunteered or were conscripted into the army.
All that aside, Kauffer was a talented poster artist and had a very successful career through the 1920s and 30s. Not long after World War 2 began, he finally returned to America. After struggling for a while to get established, he finally became a regular designer of posters for American Airlines.
Gallery
The Cubist birds are perhaps his best-known creation.
From 1919.
Much of his work was for London public transit, this from 1924.
Two more posters from 1924.
This was done in 1932 and echoes the work of the French artist called A.M. Cassandre.
I include this 1938 Shell poster because its style is different from much of his work.
A book cover.
American Airlines poster, 1948.
Kauffer was studying art in Paris when the Great War broke out. He stopped off in London on his way to the USA, but liked the town and decided to stay there. He had an appreciation for simplification inspired by Modernism, probably gained while in Paris. Moreover, he was fortunate with respect to the timing of his arrival in London. For one thing, he was able to find some clients who also appreciated modernist touches in poster design. For another, being a foreigner from a neutral (at the time) country allowed him to work while other artists his age either volunteered or were conscripted into the army.
All that aside, Kauffer was a talented poster artist and had a very successful career through the 1920s and 30s. Not long after World War 2 began, he finally returned to America. After struggling for a while to get established, he finally became a regular designer of posters for American Airlines.
Monday, February 19, 2018
Tom Purvis' Austin Reed Posters
Tom Purvis (1888-1959) was a leading British poster artist during the 1920s and 1930s, especially after his style evolved into simplified shapes with areas of flat color and no outlining.
Purvis' Wikipedia entry is here, but as of the time this post was drafted (late December 2017), it was not very informative. More biographical information can be found here, but you will need to scroll down to find it.
Although he worked for a number of clients, he is best known for his railroad posters and those for Austin Reed, a clothier. Both Austin Reed and Purvis were at their peak when the posters shown below were created. Purvis moved on to portrait work and religious painting in the years following World War 2. Austin Reed went bankrupt in 2016 and its remains were acquired by Edinburgh Woolen Mill. As I write this, there are no Austin Reed stores in London.
Gallery
For most of its existence, Austin Reed's flagship store was located at the lower end of Regent Street, not far from Piccadilly Circus.
Judging by the woman's hairdo and dress, this poster was painted no earlier that the very late 1930s.
This poster is from around 1935.
This is from 1932.
An earlier poster. The woman's costume is from the mid-to-late 1920s. Note the different Purvis technique.
Fenchurch Street is in the City. That was more convenient for City workers, avoiding a trek to Regent Street in the West End.
Purvis' Wikipedia entry is here, but as of the time this post was drafted (late December 2017), it was not very informative. More biographical information can be found here, but you will need to scroll down to find it.
Although he worked for a number of clients, he is best known for his railroad posters and those for Austin Reed, a clothier. Both Austin Reed and Purvis were at their peak when the posters shown below were created. Purvis moved on to portrait work and religious painting in the years following World War 2. Austin Reed went bankrupt in 2016 and its remains were acquired by Edinburgh Woolen Mill. As I write this, there are no Austin Reed stores in London.
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