TOM PURVIS (1888-1959) EAST COAST JOYS / TRAVEL BY L.N.E.R. Set of 6 posters. 1931.
Each approximately 40x25 inches, 101½x63½ cm. Haycock Press, London.
Condition varies, generally A- / B+. Each matted and framed.
Purvis' work for the British Railroads was exclusively for the LNER. Many of his posters for the railway promoted travel to the East Coast, depicting swimmers, sailors, beaches, beachgoers, children and hikers. This was the first of two series he designed, the other circa 1936, which presented six individual images that could be used on their own or as a set. When viewed side by side they form a continuous, panoramic strip of coastline. This effect is one Purvis borrowed from the Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock print artists, specifically Utagawa Sadahide, "whose work was commonly constructed from multiple separate sheets" (Purvis p. 76). "Purvis is an artist of unusual versatility and technical range. He designs posters which are simplified patterns . . . bold impressions in which solid shadows only are left to 'tell the story' ; he works in 'woodcut' technique . . . In all his work there is personality, knowledge and vigor (Commercial Art, 1927, p. 151). This is a rare graphic masterwork; we could locate only one other full set ever having appeared at auction. Purvis pp. 76-7, Voyage p. 40-41, Gebrauchsgraphik, June 1931, pp. 44-45, Modern Publicity, May 1931, p. 212.