CAP (DATES UNKNOWN) LLOYD SABAUDO / MEDITERRANEO AMERICA. 1930.
44x30 inches, 111 3/4x76 cm. Barabino & Graeve, Genova.
Condition B+: repaired tears, creases, minor restored losses and overpainting in margins and along vertical and horizontal folds.
A rare and rather extraordinary poster for an Italian shipping line. Although signed by the artist, there is no biographical information on "Cap." One sees in it prominent design elements from some of the most famous ocean liner posters. These include the near frontal view of a monolithic vessel (as in Cassandre's Normandie and l'Atlantique), tiny ships set as a counterpoint to the ocean liner's massive size (as in Ten Broek's Holland America Line) and also the organization of the typography along a strict vertical axis relating to the width of the ship (as seen in Normandie and L'Atlantique). What makes this poster so exceptional, however, is that it predates all of the aforementioned designs, making Cap an early adapter, if not originator, of some of these iconic graphic concepts that have been attributed to other artists. Crouse p. 242.