NORMAN WILKINSON (1882-1971) MAURETANIA. 1908.
7 1/2x13 3/4 inches, 19x35 cm. Alf Cooke, Leeds.
Condition A. Matted and framed.
Wilkinson was a painter and illustrator, whose great historical claim is that he was one of the creators of a camouflage system for ships used by the British Navy during the First World War. Although he designed over 100 posters for British railway companies during the 1920s and 30s, his real passion was maritime painting. In addition to his work for the railway companies, he also designed posters for shipping companies including White Star Line, Cunard Line, the Allan Line, the Blue Star Line, Canadian Pacific and others. Amongst his earliest maritime commercial lithographs was an image for the White Star Line, of one of their Big Four (either the Adriatic, Baltic, Cedric or Celtic) in 1904. He also designed a poster for the Cunard Line's Caronia in 1905, and a lithographic portrait of the Mauretania for the Cunard Line in 1907. This charming image shows a young woman on the deck of the Mauretania (the name is on the life boat) observing a passing four-stacker, clearly the Lusitania. While there are photographs of the two ships passing (mostly in the Mersey River), this scene is likely a joyful fabrication of an encounter on the high seas. rare. We could find no other copies at auction, nor any previous record of this lithograph.