?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
GERT SELLHEIM (1901-1970)
AUSTRALIA / SURF CLUB. Circa 1936.
39x24 inches, 99x61 cm. Condition B: rubbing and staining throughout; small repaired tears and replaced losses at edges; minor abrasions in image; margins cut off.
Estonian-born Sellheim studied architecture in Germany and Austria before migrating to Australia in 1926. He worked as an architect for two years and then began designing posters. Along with James Northfield and Percy Trompf, Sellheim is considered to be one of the finest artists who designed travel posters in Australia in the 1930s. He brings an element of the European avant-garde to his work and his posters are "distinguished by their innovative design, in particular the use of montage" (Trading Places 29). In 1939, Sellheim won the Sulman Prize for his interior designs in the Victorian Tourism Bureau at the New York World's Fair. He is most famous for designing the flying kangaroo logo for Qantas Airlines. Monash 27, Poster Art in Australia p. 37 (and cover), Crouse p. 276, Affiches Art Deco p. 108, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 208.
