MILES W. SATER (1883-1953)

THE CHICAGO MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY. Circa 1926.

41 3/4x27 1/2 inches, 106x69 3/4 cm. Eagle Lithographing Co., Chicago.
Condition B+: replaced upper left corner; small repaired tears in margins; repaired pin holes in corners.

Well-known in his lifetime, Miles Sater, who lived in Elmhurst (outside of Chicago) designed many beautiful postcard scenes of his home city, and produced lithographs as well. He also designed all of the poster stamps for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, the San Diego Fair of 1915, and souvenir stamps for the Elmhurst Centennial Commission. His sleek, watercolor-style aesthetic, combined with the influnence of woodblock prints is apparent in this rare poster for the Chicago, Milkwaukee and St. Paul Railway. With just a few colors, the scene of a train coursing through the mountains, with a bolt of lightening in the sky, comes to life. Bordered by a diagram of the train route, the image is flanked by Chinese text also describing "The World's Longest Electric Railway."