EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954) GO GREAT WESTERN TO CORNWALL. 1933.
39 1/2x24 1/4 inches. William Brown & Co., LTD., London.
Condition A-: minor repaired tears in the margins affecting image.
"Edward McKnight Kauffer was undoubtedly one of the most prolific and influential graphic designers of the 20th century. Cubism, Futurism and Surrealism found expression in his posters, which translated the complicated language of the avant-garde into accessible commercial design. At the outbreak of the First World War, Kauffer moved from Paris to London where he gained his first commissions from the Underground. During the next 25 years Kauffer also worked for Shell, the Great Western Railway, the Empire Marketing Board and the Post Office. His designs ranged from book jackets and illustrations to stage sets and textiles, but it is for his London Transport posters that he will always be remembered." (London Transport Museum, www.ltmcolection.org). Kauffer designed at least three different posters for the GWR in 1933 promoting travel to Cornwall. One features ships and a light house seen from the interior of a dock-side shack, [a visual precursor to his late 1940s image for American Airlines advertising travel to New England], the other is a landscape with stone wall, trees, the ocean and a sandy path. This is by far the most modern, daring and evocative. It is a multiple masterpiece, combining excellence in composition, typography, balance, airbrush and overall design. Kaufer 169.

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