Nov 09, 2023 - Sale 2652

Sale 2652 - Lot 25

Unsold
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

HUGH MURTON LE FLEMING (1902-1961)

FEDERATED MALAY STATES RAILWAYS / THE BEST ROAD. 1929.


30x20 inches, 76 1/4x50 3/4 cm.
Condition B+: restoration along repaired tears, creases and abrasions in margins and border/background; minor creases in image; repaired pin holes in corners.

English painter Le Fleming was also a skilled engineer, working for The Crown Agents in the 1920s. He became Assistant District Locomotive Superintendent for the Federated Malay States Railway, designing both their locomotives and their advertising materials. He was active in both the railroad and art worlds throughout his life, writing extensively on the subjects of locomotives and warships, and creating landscape and portrait paintings, posters, and sketches (though many were likely destroyed during the Japanese occupation). Here he skillfully depicts the engineer's view from the front window of the locomotive's cab, with a glimpse of the brake and the throttle visible. The text in Chinese, on the left side of the poster says, "it's better to take a train."