Nov 13, 2006 - Sale 2093

Sale 2093 - Lot 71

Price Realized: $ 4,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
TOM PURVIS (1888-1959) CANADA FOR HOLIDAYS /CANADIAN PACIFIC. 1938.
40x24 1/2 inches. S. C. Allen & Co., London.
Condition A.
In the 1930s "alongside the exotic destinations that played a major role in the Canadian Pacific's promotional efforts, Canada was given a new prominence as the home of an expanded chain of Canadian Pacific Hotels, a sports playground for golfing and skiing, and a paradise for hunting and fishing" (Canadian Pacific p. 47). Tom Purvis, who had been producing posters for the British railway companies for years, adopted images from Canada's indigenous cultures into mainstream advertising and alluringly presents a young woman, in what appears to be a bikini top (several years before the bikini was introduced to the world) wearing a ceremonial headdress and smoking a peace pipe. Canadian Pacific np.