Nov 23, 2021 - Sale 2589

Sale 2589 - Lot 135

Price Realized: $ 1,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

H.S. (HAROLD SANDYS) WILLIAMSON (1892-1978)

IMPERIAL AIRWAYS / LOADING AIR MAILS FOR THE EMPIRE. 1934.


29 1/4x36 1/4 inches, 74 1/4x92 cm. GPO, London.
Condition B+: repaired tears at edges, some into image; creases, small replaced losses and restoration in margins.

Williamson was a painter and Headmaster at the Chelsea School of Art from 1930-1958. After serving England during the First World War, he began designing posters for London Transport, the Empire Marketing Board and the General Post Office, for whom he created a series of four images in 1934. All of his work bears a stylized, Art Deco sensibility, as seen here in his depiction of the "Scylla," one of two Short L.17 aircraft that went into service for Imperial Airways in 1933. Croydon was Britain's main airport between the wars and was home to Imperial Airways from the company's formation in 1924. British Aviation p. 82.