SAM HYDE HARRIS (1889-1977) SOUTHERN PACIFIC'S NEW DAYLIGHT. 1937.
23x16 inches, 58 1/2x40 1/2 cm.
Condition B+: repaired tears, creases and restoration in margins and image; repaired pin holes in corners.
Harris was born in England and moved to Los Angeles when he was 15. His career began as a commercial artist, painting notices on sides of buildings, creating signs and billboards, designing posters and typography and more. In 1920, he was hired by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company to design posters. He also worked for the Southern Pacific. "The major portion of the advertising appeared in brochures, magazines and newspapers, but local advertisements were in the form of billboards and hand-painted posters that appeared in department stores, banks, displays in windows and bulletin boards in ticket offices and lobbies" (Harris p. 18). In the 1930s, "streamlined trains were among the most striking, visible and accessible examples of Modernism" in America (Zega p. 104). "The streamliner was perfectly suited to the poster medium; its smooth airflow profile offered the prospect of a respite from America's stylistic preoccupation with realism" (ibid). This scarce poster is an excellent example of American modernist design. Zega 141, Harris p. 103, Affiche Art Deco p. 86.