Ottomar Anton: Poster Artist for Travel ... and the SS

Ottomar Carl Joseph Anton (1895-1976) was a poster artist whose work was mostly in the clean, simplified, moderne style that was especially popular during the 1930s. His Wikipedia entry is here, but was only in German when this post was drafted. The translator on my computer did a fairly good English rendition, but a few details were given misleading meanings.

The bulk of Anton's production had to do with travel -- usually for steamship lines, but also for air travel by dirigible.

However, there was another side to Anton. He joined the National Socialist German Workers Party in 1933, about the time Hitler became Chancellor. Then in 1936 Anton joined the Schutzstaffel -- the SS -- and created many posters for that organization from then through World War 2. He was jailed after the war and released in March 1946. He was able to revive his career following that.

Below are examples of his work.

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Advertising special fares to London and Scotland.

Probably from autumn 1928, publicizing travel to the Mediterranean early the next year, getting away from winter in the north. The scene is on the African coast.

Again, the Mediterranean, but here are mentioned Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mallorca, the Riviera and Egypt.

Under the image of a ship's captain the headline stresses cheap travel.

A poster with space at the bottom for placement of local contact information. In this case, two locations in or near downtown Vienna.

"To South America in 3 Days!" this proclaims. The Graf Zeppelin only takes one as far as Rio, so to reach Buenos Aires, you'd have to catch an airplane.

The claim here is crossing the ocean in two days.

A sailing week near Kiel, showplace of the 1936 Olympics sailing regatta.

Now to the SS. The caption says "Your Future," the German word for "your" being the familiar, not the formal, term.

The illustration here is used for multiple message variations. In this instance, it is in Dutch for a Flemish audience asserting that "like blooded" Germans, Flemings, Dutch, Danes and Norwegians can stride together in the Waffen-SS. A major appeal, which got some response, was to join the Germans in the fight against Communism.

Again using the familiar "you," an appeal to Frenchmen to join the SS military to fight Communism.

Now it's 1958, the war is over and Anton is back to travel poster work, this one featuring a Norwegian fjord.

George Washington Lambert, 1905-1910

George Washington Lambert (1873-1930), born in St. Petersburg, Russia, lived in Germany and England before migrating to Australia in 1887, went to Paris around 1900, to London the following year where he remained until returning to Australia in 1921, living there until his death from heart failure, age 57. He is generally regarded as Australian, as that was his citizenship.

His short Wikipedia entry is here. It mentions that he was the father of noted musician Constant Lambert (1905-51).

So far as I am concerned, the most distinctive period of Lambert's career was approximately 1905-1910, and the images below are from then. Lambert's style was strong, featuring solid, visible drawing. Faces are usually painted smoothly, but other parts of the same painting are often somewhat blocked in using disciplined, visible brush strokes.

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Equestrian Portrait of a Boy - 1905

Sybil Walker in a Red and Gold Dress - 1905

Lotty and a Lady - 1906

Portrait Group: The Mother - 1907

The Sonnet - 1907

Portrait Group - 1908

Miss Alison Preston and John Proctor on Mearbeck Moor - 1909

King Edward VII - 1910

Holiday in Essex - 1910

Fernand Toussaint, Yet Another Interesting Belgian

Fernand Toussaint (1873-1956) was a Belgian painter who, like so many other competent artists from that country and elsewhere, failed to make a serious mark in the Paris-dominated art world of his time. Perhaps for that reason biographical information on the Internet is slim, the most detailed being here.

I just referred to Toussaint as "competent." There is nothing wrong with that, and it's surely better than being incompetent. His defect, to the extent he had one, was that his work didn't stand out strongly. To put it another way, there wasn't a large dose of individual style that proclaimed Toussaint!! to the world.

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Arranging Flowers

Le Sillon - poster
Around 1900 many Fine Arts painters also did commercial work such as this.

Bruxelles la vie moderne - c. 1905
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks like the Boulevard Anspach or thereabouts.

Jeune femme contemplant de croquis
She is looking at sketches, it seems. The style is also sketchy.

La collectioneuse - 1913
A more committed appreciator of art.

Portrait de femme
This looks unfinished, but Toussaint signed it, so it's done.

Three Strollers

Seductive Pose
I guess I forgot to mention that one of Toussaint's specialties was painting attractive women.

Woman with a Fan
I like this mural style painting, probably because it reminds me of the work of Frank Brangwyn (who spent time in Belgium).

Saturnino Herrán: A Mexican Brangwyn and Lambert

Saturnino Herrán (1887-1918) was a Mexican painter who died aged 31 after an operation for a gastric problem. His Wikipedia entry is here and a longer biography that includes an evaluation of his work is here. Charley Parker blogged about him here.

Herrán was an almost exact contemporary of Diego Rivera, a more famous -- but lesser, in my opinion -- painter. One wonders whether Herrán would have evolved his subjects and style in the direction of Rivera, Orozco, Siqueros and others whose careers spanned the 1930s and often dealt with political subjects.

As it was, his style apparently was influenced by Frank Brangwyn and, to my mind, is similar to many of George Washington Lambert's works. Herrán was an excellent draftsman and his paintings include lines that help define his subjects. In a word, it can be called muralistic.  But then, he also painted murals, so it all makes sense.

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El rebozo - 1916
A study for the paintings below.

La criolla del rebozo

El Ciego - blind man - 1914

La criolla del mantón - 1915

Girl with Calabaza - 1917

La dama del mantón - his wife

La criolla del mango

La cosecha - 1909

La ofrenda - 1913

Towards the End: Lawren Harris

Lawren Harris (1885-1970), who I wrote about here, was a key member of Canada's famous Group of Seven painters. His Wikipedia entry is here.

Unlike most noteworthy artists, Harris never experienced even moderately serious financial problems because his family was the Harris of Canada's Massey-Harris farm implement firm. And of course he had many of the right social connections that allowed him to gain influence in the Canadian art establishment of his time.

Due to his circumstances, besides his efforts to get the establishment to accept modernism, Harris' "struggles" in art largely had to do with improving his skills. And perhaps more importantly, seeking a kind of art that meshed with his strong interest in Theosophy, a spiritual belief system that had a burst of popularity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Theosophy-related concerns seem to have strongly influenced Harris's drift from representational to abstract painting over the arc of his career. The turning point took place during the years he lived an Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose art colony included other budding abstractionists.

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The Corner Store - 1912
An example of Harris' representational works.

North Shore, Lake Superior - 1926
One of his best-known paintings from the mid-point of his career where real-world objects were simplified.

Abstract No. 7 - ca. 1939
Harris for a while had the habit of testing abstractions by viewing them with different orientations -- the idea being that the abstract design would hold up no matter which way the painting was displayed. I've seen at least two orientations of this on the internet. The one above is that used by the Vancouver Art Gallery, where the painting resides.

Composition No. 1 - 1940
One of his most strictly geometric works.

Abstract Painting No. 20 - ca. 1943
Drifting from Geometry.

LSH 134 - 1950
A more "organic" look is now in place.

Untitled - 1952

Abstraction - 1964
This was painted around the time Harris had a heart attack.  By the time he died, he had developed dementia and his final painting were of blobs built up with wispy strokes somewhat like is seen here.

More Philadelphia Suburban Rail Car Photos

Several years ago I posted regarding 1930s-vintage rolling stock used on suburban Philadelphia railcar lines. Since then, I scanned slides I took in April 1969 of some of those cars. They aren't very good portraits of the equipment, but perhaps they might nevertheless be of interest to some readers.

Most of the photos are of the Philadelphia & Western suburban line that ran from Norristown to Philadelphia's 69th Street Station where riders heading for the city center would have to change to a different transportation mode. I caught a car at Haverford and rode it to 69th on my photography expedition.

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P&W car near Haverford Station (cropped)

P&W car entering Haverford Station (cropped)

P&W car at Haverford Station

P&W car near Haverford Station (cropped)

P&W car at 69th Street Station

P&W car at 69th Street Station (cropped)

Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company cars at 69th Street Station (cropped)

Red Arrow Liberty Liner at 69th Street Station (cropped)