OTTOMAR ANTON (1895-1976) HAMBURG - SÜD. Circa 1931.
47x33 inches, 119 1/2x83 1/2 cm. Langebartels & Jurgens, Altona.
Condition B / B+: extensive repaired tears, minor restored losses, creases and restoration in margins and image and along vertical and horizontal folds.
Anton is best known for the many posters he designed for German shipping lines during the 1930s including the American Line, Hamburg-America Line, Norddeutscher Lloyd-Bremen, Hamburg South America Steamship Company and Cunard. In 1931, Hamburg-Süd combined forces with German shipping lines NDL and Hapag to facilitate transportation between Germany and South America. After the Depression caused a lull in freight transportation, these large ships were increasingly appropriated for cross-Atlantic cruises, accommodating the burgeoning tourism industry. Here, Anton illustrates the Monte Rosa, "the fourth Monte series ship completed for Hamburg Süd, and like her sister ships she also went on cruises in addition to the South American Route" (Passenger Ships p. 154). To promote these cruises, Anton creates a dramatic image, more realistic and less stylized than his posters from the 1920s, in which the ship is presented flood-lit, beneath a starry tropical sky. Europeans in formal-wear stand waiting alongside their automobiles, with native Brazilians toward the front of the scene. This is the larger format. rare. Passenger Ships cover and 96, Weallans p. 134.