FORTUNINO MATANIA (1881-1963) BLACKPOOL. Circa 1938. 39x48 1/4 inches, 99x122 1/2 cm. Waterlow & Sons, London. Condition B+: repaired tears, creases and abrasions in margins and image. Framed. Blackpool came to prominence as a seaside resort with the introduction of the railroad in 1846. In 1879 her promenade was electrically illuminated, making her one of the first municipalities in the world to have electric street lighting. The Blackpool tower, visible here in the background, opened in 1894. Although it has been difficult to date this poster (some sources suggest 1926), we can surmise its date from a host of other promotional work Matania created for Blackpool. His drawings, watercolors and paintings adorned a number of illustrated souvenir programmes for the resort in 1938. "Seaside holidays were in part sold on sex appeal, as Fortunino Matania's poster . . . acknowledged. As in the Victorian period, those on the beaches, promenades and piers eyed each other up, rather than gazing out to consider the nation's maritime destiny" (The British Seaborn Empire, by Jeremy Black p. 281). Furness vol. 6, p. 76.
