EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954) THE LONDON GROUP / EXHIBITION OF MODERN ART. 1919. 293/4x193/4 inches. Dangerfield, London. Condition A: minor creases in image. Edward McKnight Kauffer was a multi-talented artist, whose work as a graphic designer, illustrator, painter and decorator was all exceptional. He was born in Montana, studied art in both Chicago and Paris and then moved to London in 1915. He returned to his native 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. Kauffer's first commissions were for the London Underground. They are highly influenced by the German school, most notably Hohlwein, an artist he greatly admired. At the same time, however, he began to experiment with more a modernistic style, stating, "...such designs as I did were confined to exhibition posters for the then modern group of painters know as the London Group, of which I was secretary" (Kauffer, p.25). This poster is indeed a breakthrough. Using only two colors with stylized figures and abstract evocations of paintings, it was a true visual revolution for 1919. Kauffer, p.130.
