Apr 24 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2702 -

Sale 2702 - Lot 16

Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 40,000

EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954)

POWER: THE NERVE CENTRE OF LONDON'S UNDERGROUND. 1931.

39¾x25 inches, 101x63½ cm. Vincent Brooks, Day & Son, Ltd., London.
Condition A: minor creases and restoration at edges; unobtrusive horizontal fold. Framed.

Edward McKnight Kauffer was a multi-talented artist, whose work as a graphic designer, illustrator, painter and decorator was exceptional. He was born in Montana, studied art in both Chicago and Paris and then moved to London in 1915. He returned to America in 1940, but his 25 years in Britain (the most creative of his career) produced a prodigious output of work including posters that alongside those of Cassandre, would become the best of the period. This is one of Kauffer's undisputed masterpieces, a powerful and commanding Machine Age image and one of the best designed during the artist's Art Deco period. "The extraordinary power of the factory and its turbines is transmitted not by sheer force of electricity but by the muscular arm and hand of the worker. [The poster's text] is realized in the fine blue veins that run through the worker's arm and into the spinning steel of the turbine, which simultaneously represents the wheels of the subway trains with the Underground logo in the center . . . Kauffer visually portrays the symbiosis of humans and machines, touting the machine for its extraordinary powers yet keeping alive its connection to humankind" (Mechanical Age p. 119). Although dated 1930, the poster was not released until 1931.

Crouse p. 266, Kauffer p. 63, Word & Image p. 77, Modern Poster 167, Crouse p. 266, Weill / Art Deco p. 161, Euro Deco p. 465, Art Deco Graphics p. 78, Art for All 9, London Transport p. 39, Mechanical Age p. 119, Berman / Juan March p. 225, Underground p. 68.
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