RICHARD BECK (DATES UNKNOWN) ORIENT LINE CRUISES. 1937.
39x24 1/2 inches, 99x62 1/4 cm. The Baynard Press, London.
Condition B: overpainting and restoration in margins, corners and along vertical and horizontal folds.
This rather daring photomontage utilizes two prominent Surrealist elements; a mannequin and a sea shell. Two white cruise ships are only suggested in the background. Tom Purvis, writing in Poster Progress, a book published shortly before the Second World War, displays three of Beck's posters and explains that they "show a distinct trend in poster design. The artists assemble material, combining photography and drawn design in some novel or striking arrangement" (Poster Progress p. 93). Beck designed several photomontage posters for the Orient Line and also designed the poster for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. rare. Poster Progress p. 55, Voyage p. 154, Poster Art In Australia p. 25.