?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
ABRAM GAMES (1914-1996)
BOAC FLIES TO ALL 6 CONTINENTS. 1952.
39 3/4x25 inches, 101x63 1/2 cm. The Baynard Press, London. Condition B+: minor abrasions at edges and in upper right image; unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds.
Born in Whitechapel, London, Abram Games became one of Britain's foremost graphic artists. Largely self-taught, Games opened his studio in 1936 and before the war, was already designing posters for major clients such as Shell, The London Transport and The National Post-Office. In 1942, he was appointed the "Official War Poster Designer" at the War Office, in which capacity he created more than 100 posters, and became the key person for British war communication. In post-war Britain, competition between the different airlines was fierce, and so, the airline companies hired the best graphic designers in the field, such as F.K. Henrion, Ashley Havinden, and Abram Games, to help them advertise. 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. In order to capture these concepts, the designers created beautiful, symbolic and surrealistically-inspired images that quite poetically captured the abstract concepts they were advertising. Here, an elaborate weathervane seems to indicate the B.O.A.C. can take you to any of the 6 continents, or anywhere the wind blows. It is unclear precisely how many designs Games made for this series, but they are all united by a Surrealist feel and a pale blue and green background with faint clouds. International Posters Annual 1948/49, 1951, 1952, British Aviation Posters p. 123.
