EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954) NEW SHELL LUBRICATING OILS. 1937. 29 3/4x44 3/4 inches. Condition B+: restored losses, repaired tears and creases in margins and image. We have a direct insight into Kauffer's thought process as he created this poster. When Jack Beddington called the artist in and asked him to design an image for New Shell Lubricating Oils, Kauffer recalls that "a ribbon came into my mind . . . Now why did I associate the movement of a ribbon with the product at the time of our interview? A ribbon, so I think, suggests smoothness, softness, yes -- I accept the ribbon as a symbol" (see Kauffer pps 74-75). Kauffer took this idea, this symbol, and devised a scheme to visually convey the notion. He uses the contrast between an oily black background and purple, yellow and red as an attention-getting color scheme, and then uses the concept of the ribbon to establish a link between the different elements of the poster, and a flow and order to the words themselves. Shell 69, Kauffer 41.
