MAURICE LOGAN (1886-1977) LAKE TAHOE / SOUTHERN PACIFIC. 1923. 22 3/4x16 inches, 57 3/4x40 1/2 cm. Condition A / A-: minor loss and creases in upper left corner. Paper. Maurice Logan was a prominent commercial artist working out of Northern California. He was also a fine artist and in 1917 joined five other California painters to form the "Society of Six," a group of artists whose work was categorized first and foremost by bold colors. "Considered outsiders in their time, their work is now recognized as part of the vital and enduring lineage of American art" (See Society of Six, by Nancy Boas, University of California Press, 1997). In 1923, Maurice Logan began designing posters for the Southern Pacific Railway. For these earliest images "he used the flat color effects of the German poster technique, painting with bold colors and relying on color contrast for depth. The series depicted women in emblematic settings" (Zega p. 58). These early Southern Pacific posters, with their broad, flat planes of color and absence of outlining, are reminiscent of work by Ludwig Hohlwein. Later in the decade, as Logan continued his work with the railroad, his posters became less graphic and more painterly. Zega p. 61, Northern California pl. 9.
