Jun 18, 2020 - Sale 2538

Sale 2538 - Lot 139

Price Realized: $ 552
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954) WATCH OUT FOR FIRE / SAVE LIVES. 1943.
44x31 inches, 112x78 1/2 cm. U.S. Government Printing Office, [Washington, D.C.]
Condition B+: repaired tears at edges, some into image; repaired tears, abrasions and restoration along vertical and horizontal folds.
A poster for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, published in conjunction with the Commerce Department, exhorting safety in the air and on airfields. Unlike most war posters, which would have been mass-distributed, this one was most likely limited to airfields, explaining why it is so infrequently seen. A sophisticated image, it relays its message in an immediate and easily understood manner - a large hand held up in the universally recognizable "stop" gesture, and three planes flying into clear skies away from bright flames that engulf half of the hand. The dynamic text adds to both the urgency and strength of the message. Kauffer 134.