Apologies for the long gap, summer holidays and renovations are rather eating into my writing time. But I am going to dash in quickly now to tell you a bit more about the furthcoming Swann auction, because that is coming up in just four days time, on the 9th.
Anon, 1950s, est. $400-600
Not unreasonably, it’s almost entirely stuffed with American posters, with European posters coming in a close second.
Esteban, 1958, est. $400-600
But nonetheless, there are a few interesting items worthy of our British notice.
I mentioned the Harry Beck poster above last week, but if London Transport is your thing, there is also a Percy Drake Brookshaw on offer.
It comes with a pair, as does this Betty Swanwick.
Betty Swanwick, 1937, est. $400-600
Which comes as part of a job lot with a Dora Batty. This is a bit text heavy, but even so both this and the Brookshaws don’t look expensive at all.
There are a similarly small number of railway posters on offer, but the few that there are do at least have the grace to be interesting. I’ve never come across this rather jolly number before.
Arthur Michael, 1937, est. $1,000-2,000
While further down the listings you can also find this, which is another one to add to my list of industrial posters produced by the raliway companies.
Albert Martin, 1935, est. $700-1,000
Moreover, it’s a bit different to the ones we were discussing before, as its purpose doesn’t seem to be to demonstrate the glory of England’s industrial north, but rather to advertise a service to manufacturers, or indeed anyone else who would like to export things.
A forage in the National Railway Museum’s collections does reveal a couple more like this too, so it wasn’t a one off.
Although from 1933 and 1929 respectively, they are both by the same artist, Henry Gawthorn. What that signifies, though, I don’t know.
Again, there are a few British World War Two posters are to be found lurking amongst the americana, like this Henrion.
FHK Henrion, 1943, est. $700-1,000
Graphically superb, but I’m not about to frame it and hang it on the wall.
And there’s also this Pat Keely, which I don’t think I’ve ever come across until now.
Pat Keely, 1943, est. $800-1,200
Along with a ton of these, which are good if you like pictures of machinery but that’s about all I can say in favour of them.
Anon, 1942, est. $600-900
Anon, 1942, est. $600-900
The bottom one is apparently by Terence Cuneo, although that doesn’t seem to make any difference to the estimate.
Finally, there’s also an old favourite.
This is one of the posters which, a while back, led to my finding out a lot about Denis Constanduros and his aunt Mabel. The short version is that he produced a few excellent posters and then was lured into broadcasting, quite possibly by his famous aunt Mabel. Full details here and again here if you need to know more.