Oct 25, 2018 - Sale 2490

Sale 2490 - Lot 188

Price Realized: $ 3,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
OTIS SHEPARD (1894-1969) [CATALINA.] 1938.
40 1/4x52 1/4 inches, 102 1/4x132 3/4 cm.
Condition B+: airbrushing in margins; repaired tears and minor restoration in margins, slightly into image.
A bright and sunny view of a promenade on Catalina Island. Located only 22 miles away from Los Angeles, the island's Mexican roots are very apparent. The life of Otis Shepard was one long, successful exercise in modern advertising, beginning his career with the Foster and Kleiser Outdoor Advertising Company from 1917-1930. He ran the 'first, full-scale outdoor poster art department, and became the Chief Creative Director for the entire F&K organization' (Strauss p. 68). By 1932, Shepard had moved to New York City and made his first posters for Wrigley's gum; he served the company exclusively for the next 30 years. His work 'seduced the public with beautiful imagery; the pictures never seemed tired, never suffered from repetition, yet were comfortably continuous in each theme' (Strauss p. 74). In this image, inspired by British Rail travel posters, the figures are wearing uniforms designed by Dorothy Shepard, and the Sombrero fountain was designed by Otis. This is the version before text.