?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
KONSTANTIN BOR RAMENSKY (1900-1942)
BY AIR TO USSR / USE THE FAST AIR LINES. 1934.
35 3/4x23 1/2 inches, 90 3/4x59 3/4 cm. Intourist. Condition A-: creases and minor abrasions in margins and image; top margin slightly trimmed. Paper. Framed.
An early Soviet commercial aviation poster from the years shortly after the Russian Civilian Air Fleet was conglomerated under the name Aeroflot in 1932. Still, at this early juncture, the Aeroflot name does not appear on this poster; rather it vaguely promotes "the fast air lines which link all Europe." Air travel into Russia during this era was handled by a German-Russian joint venture airline, Deruluft, with flights originating in Berlin. The Deruluft fleet was comprised of almost entirely German aircraft. It wasn't until 1931 that a Soviet-built commercial aircraft (the Tupelov ANT-9, pictured here) began plying the skies. Aeroflot assumed control of international flights to the west in 1937 when the Russian agreement with Deruluft expired. The prime motivator is not to promote Aeroflot, but rather to encourage travel to the Soviet Union by whichever airlines, as the country was eager to cash in on European tourism. Intourist, pl.19, Airline Maps p. 20.
