Leading the sale was Leslie Ragan’s (American, 1897-1972) 1939 poster for The New 20th Century Limited / New York Central System, Latham Litho. Co., Long Island City, N.Y. Measuring 40¼ by 26 inches, it topped off at $23,750 ($12/18,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
NEW YORK CITY — Swann Auction Galleries’ October 10 sale of Rare & Important Travel Posters featured 198 lots celebrating travel by land, sea and air. Falling “perfectly in the middle of the presale estimates,” according to Swann communications manager Kelsie Jankowski, the auction realized $444,355 and had an 80 percent sell-through rate with all the top lots selling to private collectors.
Jankowski noted, “Top lots of the auction were images of iconic train engines, including two works by Leslie Ragan — one of his famous posters and an oil painting that was a design for a calendar back.”
Ragan’s 1939 poster advertising the New York Central System’s 16-hour New 20th Century Limited trip between New York and Chicago achieved the sale-high price of $23,750 — exceeding its $18,000 high estimate. Published by Latham Litho. Co., of Long Island City, N.Y., the Art Deco-style poster featured an image of the train, which was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, with billowing smoke and its reflection in the water beneath the tracks.
Also featuring Henry Dreyfuss’ 20th Century Limited train, Ragan’s circa 1943 oil maquette for that railroad’s calendar back, which bore the caption “The Century in the Highlands of the Hudson,” sold for $20,000. In the painting, the train was depicted traveling through the Hudson Valley in autumn with mountains and fall foliage in the background.
This oil maquette for New York Central System / The Highlands of the Hudson by Leslie Ragan (American, 1897-1972), circa 1943, 35¾ by 29¾ inches, was bid to $20,000 ($8/12,000).
Also making $20,000 was Paul George Lawler’s 1939 poster for the Pan American Airways System, advertising “Hawaii by Flying Clipper.” In the poster’s image, passengers arriving to Hawaii are shown deplaning the Honolulu Clipper, which, according to the auction catalog, was “Pan American’s most advanced, largest and last flying boat, the Boeing 314.”
“Across The Pacific In Five Days” read another Pan American poster featuring a Boeing 314 Clipper by Paul George Lawler. In this 1938 poster, the flying boat was depicted traveling low over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor with mountain views in the background. An interesting note from the auction catalog mentioned the fact that Lawler depicted the “aircraft with a single, vertical tail fin, as it was originally built,” despite early tests proving the configuration unreliable and working versions were updated with “a wider back fin with endplates at both ends of the tail.” The poster traveled to a new owner for $12,500, well above its $4,000 high estimate.
Depicting a large black and red train outside the station, Pierre Fix-Masseau’s 1932 poster, which bore the text “Exactitude” across the top, is considered “one of the classic railroad images to emerge from the Art Deco era,” according to the auction catalog. With a conductor leaning out to survey the platform and the station’s clock seen in the background beneath the building’s triangular roof, Fix-Masseau emphasized the characteristic punctuality of traveling by train. Exactitude sold above its high estimates, achieving $16,250.
Exactitude, a 1932 poster by Pierre Fix-Masseau (French, 1905-1994), Edita, Paris, 39½ by 24½ inches, found a buyer for $16,250 ($8/12,000).
Train posters often advertised specific destinations or journeys. Making $13,750, A. Stepanoff’s circa 1925 poster for the Trans-Siberian Express highlighted the 12-day journey from Paris, France to Peking, China (Beijing). The catalog noted, “This exceptional and rare poster was published by the Chinese Eastern Railway Company and printed in the Chinese city of Harbin, which was a major railroad hub.” With prominent Parisian landmarks shown on top and those from Peking on the bottom, the center of the poster featured a train on top of a globe, which showed the route outlined in red.
Featuring a large Cubist image of an elephant among greenery, a London Underground poster by Maurice A. Miles read “For The Zoo.” Shining spotlight on three stations with access to the London Zoo, this 1933 poster sold to a collector for $11,050.
Honoring the 11th anniversary of Benito Mussolini’s rise to power, Umberto di Lazzaro’s 1933 poster, which read “Crociera Aerea Del Decennale 1933 XI,” promoted “the second transatlantic mass-formation flight jointly sponsored by the Societa Italo-Americana del Petrolio (Italo-American Petroleum Society) and the Italian government.” According to the poster, the flight traveled from Rome to Chicago to New York and then back to Rome. Further details from the auction catalog note that this poster was one of three created to propagandize the “aeronautical achievement [which] was an epic undertaking for its time: it comprised two formations, each of which was made up of four squadrons consisting of three SIAI SM 55X seaplanes.” This example went out for $10,625.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.swanngalleries.com or 212-254-4710.
