auctions Archives - Page 13 of 19

Swiss eye

I’ve mentioned Poster-Auctioneer before in passing – they’re a specialist poster auction house in Switzerland. And until now I thought they only sold Swiss posters (for Swiss people, etc). But either I hadn’t looked at their website properly, or they’ve expanded it, because now they have a poster shop with plenty of things for immediate sale.

There are still lots of posters of mountains, skiing and cheese, naturally, but a rather useful search function lets you filter out posters by subject. And should you select Public Suburban Traffic, you’ll come across something rather interesting, a set of more than forty pre-war London Transport posters.

Anonymous, 1938, €120 each

What makes them interesting is that what’s on offer here isn’t a collection of the usual suspects. Instead, these look like the pre-war output of London Transport selected with what I can only describe as a Swiss eye, one which is much more interested in photography and type than illustration or whimsy.

Anonymous, 1938, €120

The result is a very different version of London Transport’s output. There are plenty of posters here I’ve never seen before, even though each and every one of them is represented in the London Transport Museum Collection.

Anonymous, 1938, €90

While others only crop up very rarely.

Maurice Beck, 1931, €120

The Petrol Tax poster from this set did come up for sale at the Swann Galleries earlier this year, but Poster-Auctioneer have all three on offer.

There are also some interesting designers represented, like Richard Beck, with both halves of this pair poster up for sale.

Richard Beck, 1938, €230 each

Even better are these two posters by Milner Gray. These seem to be the only two posters he ever designed for London Transport, and both are being offered by Poster Auctioneer.

Shop Early vintage London Transport poster 1938 Milner Gray
Milner Gray, 1938, €120 each

Now the sharp-eyed of you will have noticed that the vast majority of these posters date from 1938. I can’t actually explain this, but I do have a vision of a Swiss designer coming over to Britain just before the war, and spending quite a lot of money at the London Transport Shop before he returned home.

Beath Timber exhibition vintage London Transport poster 1937
Beath, 1937, €180

But however this collection came together, it’s an interesting proof of the fact that you find what you are looking for. A British designer or design historian would argue that, even in London Transport, British modernism never quite happened. But to a Swiss eye, out and about in the capital in 1938, it was very much there, and he carried the proof back with him.

Eckersley Lombers, 1938, €120

This also makes the date even more intriguing. Perhaps a form of continental modernism was about to flower in Britain, only to be cut short by the war? It’s unprovable, but these posters certainly make the idea seem possible.

Of course, the collection is also not quite as didactic and tidy as I am making it seem. In addition to the photographic and typographical posters, there are also some pair posters from after the war, which are much more romantic. I particularly like this John Wood pair poster from 1950.

John Wood, 1950, €250

There’s more flamboyance than that too if you want it.

Denys Nichols, 1950, €240

Another shopping trip perhaps, a recognition that the world had changed after the war. Or perhaps the modernism had all but disappeared from the walls of the Underground. We’ll never know. But I’m very grateful to whoever did put together this collection of posters, because it’s allowed me to see British design in the late 1930s from the outside – and from a very different point of view.

When did you last see an auction?

auctions

So, spring is in the air and the auctions are springing up like dandelions on the lawn. Christies is tomorrow, as mentioned before, and in the meantime two more catalogues have popped up on the web, Onslows and Van Sabben, with auctions on the 18th May and 4th June respectively.

I’ll start with Onslows first, because it is a great soup of an auction and I don’t quite know what to think of it. All of the usual subjects – cruises, railways, travel posters – are represented as you’d expect, but with very few jumping out at me demanding to be either bought or written about. I quite like this Lander, partly because if the Isle of Man is in any way continental, I am an otter.

Eric Lander, 1960, est. £500-700

Our non-existent friend Ralph Mott is also represented with several posters, this being my favourite, mainly for the slower-moving world which it evokes.

Ralph Mott, n.d., est. £150-200

There are also pages – and I mean pages – of wartime propaganda posters from both world wars. Unfortunately, most of them are visual proof of the fact that most wartime posters were not masterpieces of design. And I can’t even find a single one which I really love, this is about as good as they get.

Anonymous, est. £100-150

But not all is doom and gloom if you wander through the catalogue. This Rex Whistler is battered, but still lovely through the creasing and tape.

Rex Whistler, 1930, est. £300-400.

Even better (if you’re me, at least) are a selection of post-war London Transport posters. Probably the most noteworthy is this Bawden.

Edward Bawden, 1936, est. £300-400

But there are other treasures too.

Abram Games, 1964, est. £200-300

Enid Marx, 1964, est. £150-200

Peter Robeson, 1956, est. £100-150.

I’ve always loved that last Robeson poster. Although it’s called ‘When did you last see your Velasquez?’ it’s much more about being contemporary than art historical; in fact it’s like the essence of the mid-1950s distilled onto a single poster. All of which means that, in my book at least, it’s a bit of a bargain at that estimate. But I’m likely to be wrong on that one.

There’s quite a lot of overlap between Onslows and Van Sabben too. Obviously they’ve both got a lot of foreign posters of various sorts, some of which are rather good.

Jean Colin, 1963, est. £250-300

Anonymous, est. £150-200

These are both from Onslows, but as you can imagine, Van Sabben has literally hundreds more.

Max Velthuys, est. €80

More surprising is the other thing they have in common, which is a selection of large format GPO posters by interesting artists. These two are in the Onslows sale:

Hans Schleger, 1942, est. £200-300

Manfred Reiss, 1948, ext. £200-250

While these three are from Van Sabben.

Beaumont, 1960 (?), est. €160

Rothholz, 1948, est. €280

Reiss, 1950, est €150

If only I were a GPO museum, then I’d go on a spending spree, as they’re probably my favourite things on offer. But there are a couple of other interesting items in Van Sabben too, like this pair of Reginald Mount posters.

Reginald Mount, 1950, est. €150

Reginald Mount, 1950, est. €180

The design of the latter one is almost good enough for me to overlook the fact that I am being addressed as Housewife again. I’m not sure if Mrs Housewife is better or worse.

Other than that, it’s the usual suspects here: a few war posters, a couple of railway posters, and, of course, a BOAC poster.

Abram Games, 1953, est. £500

I think they’re compulsory these days.

But for a small selection of posters (perhaps only 30 out of over a thousand) Van Sabben have managed to pull a few interesting ones out of the hat once again. Still don’t know if I’m actually going to buy anything though…

Bracket Semaphore Signal

auctions

I’ve said it before, but there are too many auctions around right now. And another day brings another catalogue in the post, this time for Talisman Railwayana Auctions.

This pre-war Ralph Mott poster is for me, the nicest piece in it.

That’s a rather good, and unusual, bit of modernist design used for a splendidly appropriate theme. Roll out the gleaming new factories and let us hurtle into the technical future along gleaming railway lines.

There are, though, other ways of looking at it.

Dramatic artwork of a modern factory building by Ralph Mott with ‘King’ and Pannier tank steam locos and a bracket semaphore signal.

That’s the catalogue speaking. Truly we are in the world of railwayana here. There probably is a bracket semaphore signal itself in the catalogue somewhere; there’s certainly nearly everything else you’d need to build a railway.

There are also some posters too, but you’ll mostly have look yourselves, because all the catalogue pictures are like this:

Apart from the booking office grill and the bottle of commemorative railway champagne, there’s also a rather nice Pembrokeshire poster top right. However, I don’t have the time or energy needed to find each poster as an individual image, so I’m not going to talk about them. But they are there. Although, once again, without any form of estimate at all. I am almost getting used to this as normal for railwayana auctions, even though I am sure it makes me less likely to bid if I have no idea at all what they are expecting. However, this catalogue introduces an additional twist, because telephone bidding is offered in the auction, but only for lots estimated at £250 or more. So there is an estimate out there, somewhere, it’s just that they don’t want to tell us. Sigh.

Rather than rack my brains over any of that, I thought I’d look for the collected works of Ralph Mott instead. And Mr Mott turns out to be rather good; operating on the borderline between modernism and deco in the years leading up to WW2.

I like that hotel one very much indeed. Even better is this, for the Lancashire Industrial Development Council and the Travel association.

I’m unsure whether they want me to holiday in Lancashire or build a factory there, but it’s still stunning. Ralph Mott is also responsible for one of the iconic railway images of the time. If you like trains, that is.

He even diversifies into a more romantic style at times, particularly where abroad is concerned.

But there is a twist in the tale. Because even though several reputable sites, including Christies, give Mott’s dates as 1888-1959, he never actually existed as a person.

What did exist was the artists’ agency of Ralph & Mott, who worked for all manner of people including railway companies and magazine publishers, and who used the pseudonym of Ralph Mott for some of their best designs and posters.

What’s even more interesting, is the discovery that Reginald Montague Lander was their studio manager, and one of the designers. This 1935 advertising brochure (it is a brochure advertising advertising itself, if that makes sense) seems to suggest that it is Mr Ralph and Mr Mott who do most of the work though.

Apologies for breaking up the double page spread, but the book is too big for the scanner.

I’d need to take a proper look at the dates, but it looks as though the Ralph & Mott agency did most of their work before World War Two – this 1950 poster is the only exception I can find.

Perhaps they never really managed to get back to their previous pre-eminence after the war. This would also fit with the fact that the vast majority of Lander’s signed work is post-war (the NMSI site says that he worked for them 1930-39). But then there’s this GWR poster which he did sign.

There’s more research to be done here, not just on the dates but also the question of which other artists worked for the studio. And I am slightly hoping that someone else has done all of it already. Does anyone have any leads?

Modern selling

auctions

The auction season really is upon us; no sooner do I promise you the Christies highlights, than the Swann Galleries catalogue also pops into my email box. And to my surprise, the American auction is, I think, the winner. But let’s take a quick canter through both of them, and then you can make up your own mind, starting with Swann’s offering.

There are of course a lot of classics in there, which is all you’d expect from a catalogue calling itself Modernist Posters.

Abram Games, 1956, est. $800-1,200

Eckersley Lombers, 1936, est. $1,200-1,800

In amongst those classics are a considerable quantity of Zeros, which is always nice.

Hans Schleger, 1938, est. $2,500-3,500

Hans Schleger, 1935, est. $4,000-6000

Even better, there are some that I haven’t seen before, like this quiet and understated design, also for London Transport.

Hans Schleger, 1935, est. $1,500-2,000

There are some other interesting posters in there too, like this Willy de Majo for B.S.S.A.

William de Majo, 1948, est. $700-1,000

B.S.A.A. split from the British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (B.O.A.C.) to operate in the South Atlantic. Founded in 1946, it merged back with B.O.A.C. in 1949, after a series of unlucky incidents, in which two of their planes disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

All of which rather leaves me wanting to know more, both about B.S.A.A. and William de Majo, who has featured on these pages before. Other questions are also raised by this rather out of the ordinary London Transport poster.

Maurice Beck, 1931, est. $500-750.

Fortunately, the catalogue is here to answer them.

An extraordinary montage of photographed letters and numbers designed by Maurice Beck. He was both a designer and a photographer, often incorporating photography into his work. In the 1920s he was the head photographer for British Vogue, and he is credited with designing 18 posters for the Underground, all photomontages. One in a series of four posters based on the unusual premise of informing the public how much “the Underground group (U.E.R.L.) pays in petrol tax. The information highlights the success of the company, still profitable in spite of so many taxes, and the fact that U.E.R.L. contributes significantly to the Treasury and therefore to the London’s economy” (http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk).

I have to say, I really do like this catalogue. While I’m not normally a fan of online catalogues,with their pretend turning pages and interminable loading times, I am prepared to make an exception for this one, which is well worth the investment of time and bandwidth. This isn’t just because of the layout, which makes almost every poster desirable.

Including that McKnight Kauffer at the left, which I don’t remember having seen before now.

But even better is the text, which, as the examples above demonstrate, is consistently interesting and informative. Take this BOAC poster by Henrion, for example.

FHK Henrion, 1947, $800-1,200

In post-war Britain, competition between the different airlines was fierce, and as a result, the airline companies hired the best graphic designers in the field for their advertising, such as F.K. Henrion, Ashley, and Abram Games. At the time when Games was creating a series of posters for B.O.A.C., the trend among artists was not to illustrate the actual airplanes (as had been the style in the thirties), but instead, to advertise the advantages of flying, such as saved travel time. They did this by creating beautiful, symbolic and surrealistically inspired images that captured the abstract concepts poetically. Here, Henrion incorporates the company’s Speedbird logo into the design.

All poster catalogues should be like this, why aren’t they?

You may be feeling that you saw that Henrion poster quite recently, and you did; there is a lot of overlap between the various auctions. Like the PosterConnection sale mentioned in my last post, Swann also have a fair number of airline posters of one kind and another.

Lewitt-Him, 1948, est. $800-1,200

Theyre Lee Elliott, 1935, est. $700-1,000

But there’s an even more interesting overlap between the Swann Galleries and Christies sale, which is this.

It’s by McKnight Kauffer and dates from 1931, but it’s worth $12-18,000 if you’re Christies, $15-20,000 if you’re Swann Galleries – and the Christies one is purportedly in slightly better condition, too.

It will be interesting to see how that pans out. Will the existence of two depress prices? Or does the fact that they’re on opposite sides of the Atlantic mean that this doesn’t matter. I shall watch with interest.

Sadly, that’s about as much excitement as I can muster up for the Christies catalogue. While there are plenty more unseen gems at Swann, where I can even get enthusiastic about German posters that I’m not supposed to be interested in.

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Hymmen, 1949, $400-600

At Christies, everything feels a bit more familiar, with only a very few exceptions. Best of all, I like this Herbert Bayer.

Herbert Bayer, 1940, est £800-1,200

And I probably would like this Night Scotsman classic if only I could afford it.

Alexeieff Night Scotsman Kings Cross vintage railway posters 1931
Alexeieff, 1931, est. £15-20,000

Ditto this Paul Nash, which I suspect will go for a bit more than the estimate. If only suburbia had ever looked like that.

Paul Nash vintage London transport poster come out to live 1936
Paul Nash, 1936, est.£800-1,200

But other than that the catalogue seems to be both rather thin, covering the same old ground, and without pithy texts to make me care about particular posters. So there are railway posters, of course.

Frank Sherwin, est. £700-900

With an honourable mention going to Frank Newbould for his impressive impersonation of McKnight Kauffer.

Frank Newbould, 1924, est. £1,000-1,500

And London Transport too. But a lot of these are similar to or even the same as items from the last sale, and so feel like they’re riding on the coat-tails of that last set of high prices.

Marty, 1931, est. £1,000-1,500

Jean Dupas, 1933, est. £3,000-5,0000

Of course no auction this year would be complete without airline posters, particularly those for BOAC.

Abram Games, 1949, £600-800

The only good news is that there don’t seem to be too many multiple lots this time, which is a relief. But I wonder if this is policy or accident? And where are all the nice, inexpensive London Transport posters going to be sold these days? Surely they can’t all be on eBay?

By Eck

auctions

Hurrah, an auction; it feels as though we haven’t had one of those for ages. Even better, an interesting auction too. It’s Great Central Railwayana (9 April, Stoneleigh Showground, just in case you’re in the area). As it’s a railwayana sale, there is of course a lot of this kind of thing, here by Claude Buckle.

Because it’s a railwayana sale, there are also no estimates (why is that?) or dates either, so I can’t tell you very much about any of these posters. I can tell you that I quite like this one, more for its use of ‘twixt’ than its slightly archaic style.

And that I had to post this one, if only so that I can say by Eck.

Which is of course exactly what the picture shows.

Other than that, there is an early example of a photographic poster, which is rare, but not exactly pleasing on the eye.

Although I do rather want one of those swimsuits.

And another chance to revel in the delightfulness that is the camping coach.

As well as this Bromfield poster, which is simply good.

But the real reason that I’m enthusiastic about this auction is that they seem to have stumbled across a previously unknown treasure trove of kitsch, advertising Dublin, Blackpool and Bognor Regis for starters.

The Ladybird school of illustration is quite well represented, with not just Bognor above, but also this classic.

There are more besides, but my poster of the sale, for its pure distillation of 1950s camp has to be this one.

Oh I do wish there were estimates so I knew whether or not I could afford it.

Going, gone

auctions, eBay

So it’s back to work after the birthday festivities, which today means a brief round-up of eBay and auction news. Such as there is.

Thebasement101 seems to have an almost inexhaustible stock of slightly obscure London Transport posters backed on linen. He has put another three up for sale this week, of which my favourite is this Victor Galbraith owl from 1960.

Although I do not like it with £99 worth of like. I must research Victor Galbraith properly one day, because the few bits of his work I’ve seen I always enjoy. But I’m not even going to look today, as who knows where it will end up and I have other things which have to be done. But if anyone out there knows something, please do get in touch.

Mr Basement also has the two posters below, by Stella Marsden and Maurice Wilson respectively.

If you prefer railway posters and steam trains (is this the Quad Royal demographic? I’m not sure) then there is also this Studio Seven piece, which is quite good if you do want a piece of 1960s text about steam trains. And a lot cheaper than £99.

Elsewhere on eBay, two conundrums. Exhibit A is undoubtedly an interesting and very rare survival of some World War Two propaganda that is also commercial advertising. But it’s the picture that’s the problem.

Because at first glance it could easily be mistaken for a pro-Nazi poster. Which is an interesting reminder that context is all; I am sure that no one in an art shop in 1942 would have thought that way. But which makes me feel that it belongs in the context of a museum. Or am I being too sensitive here?

Exhibit B is only really a conundrum in the sense that I am forced to wonder who on earth thinks it is worth that money? Yes it is a McKnight Kauffer poster, but it is a 1973 reprint for the V&A with, frankly, not very nice lettering added.

If that is worth £159, I am a stick. It’s not even ‘Must-have’ as the seller suggests in the title. Really.

The rest of this post is a slightly sorrowful litany of Things We Have Missed. Starting with this Barbara Jones book. Now the seller didn’t do themselves any favours -here’s their photo.

And here’s the cover scanned rather than photographed in infra red.

But even so, I would have expected it to go for a bit more than just £7 when it goes on Abebooks for between £40 and £50. (To my chagrin we put a stupidly low bid on it because we’ve already got one, and now I feel foolish).

And finally, this.

A collection of posters, Keep Britain Tidy, Henry Moore Exhibition, Heath Robinson posters etc

That’s all the lot description said, and it caused a mad panic here at Crownfolio Towers, because the email alert arrived on the day of the auction. I do know that it had one of these in.

And also, possibly, a 10 x 15 version of one of these.

Along with a couple more Keep Britain Tidy posters that I can’t trace. But more than that I will never know, because it went for £10 over our top bid. I can, just about, live with that, because we hadn’t seen the condition or anything. But I would still love to know what the posters were, so if any of you lot bought them, can you send the photos over? I promise I won’t be too bitter.