ODIN ROSENVINGE (1880-1957) CUNARD LINE / LIVERPOOL • NEW YORK • BOSTON / [LUSITANIA.] Circa 1907.
39 1/2x24 1/2 inches, 100 1/4x62 1/4 cm. Turner & Dunnett Lithos., Liverpool.
Condition B+ / A-: minor restored losses in corners and margins; minor repaired tears and restoration in margins and along vertical and horizontal folds.
A scarce and beautiful poster advertising transatlantic travel on the legendary Lusitania. Although the ship's name does not appear on the bow of the vessel illustrated, we know it is the Lusitania both by her profile (with her signature four smokestacks) and, more importantly, the white stripe along the top edge of her bow. Her sister ship the Mauretania, which looked practically identical, did not have the band of white above the black hull. This poster, however, predates the Lusitania's maiden voyage (September 7, 1907), as she was never in regular service with this white strip in place; the top of her bow was only painted white for her trials. This poster is exceptional, not only as one of a very few posters for the Lusitania, but also as a wonderful, artistic and evocative nocturnal seascape, in which a searchlight dramatically slices diagonally through the sky, prominently intersecting the diagonal hull of the ship. A fast and elegant ship, the vessel entered into popular culture and immortality when she was sunk by German torpedoes on May 7, 1915, a horrific event which helped precipitate the United States' entry in World War I.