May 03, 2018 - Sale 2476

Sale 2476 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 3,380
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
J.S. ANDERSON (DATES UNKNOWN) YOU CAN BE SURE OF SHELL / MOTORISTS PREFER SHELL. 1935.
30x44 1/2 inches, 76 1/4x113 cm. Lucien Serre & Cie, Paris.
Condition B+ / B: repaired tears, restored losses, staining, creases and overpainting in margins, some affecting text and image. Framed.
Shell, under the direction of Jack Beddington, was one of Britain's strongest patrons of advertising arts (along with the London Underground). Year after year, Beddington orchestrated remarkable campaigns that were spread through the country on his trucks. In 1935, he had the idea for a campaign to show that members of all different professions, from footballers to journalists, used Shell. Many of the posters in the series are not as straightforward as Anderson's (such engaging non-sequiturs as "Smokers Prefer Shell," "Theatre-Goers Use Shell," "Blondes and Brunettes," etc.), but his encapsulates the heart and soul of oil: an engine. The image is a classical example of Machine Age representation in advertising. Shell 57, Poster Progress p. 54, Word and Image p. 84, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 141, MoMA 106.1968.