ALGERNON TALMAGE (1871-1939) ABERDEEN. 1924. 39x49 inches. Thos. Forman & Sons, Nottingham.

ALGERNON TALMAGE (1871-1939) ABERDEEN. 1924.
39 5/8x49 5/8 inches. Thos. Forman & Sons, Nottingham.
Condition A-: minor repaired tears and creases in margins.
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was formed in 1923 as an amalgamation of existing railway companies. In order to distinguish itself from the other three railway companies formed at the same time, the LMS hired the artist Norman Wilkinson "and asked for his views on how its advertising could be improved. Wilkinson proposed that, in order to raise standards, members of the Royal Academy should be asked to design a series of posters for the company" (Railway p. 12). As Wilkinson himself recalled in his autobiography, "Even though some of the posters might fall short of the qualities usually looked for in posters, there was one outstanding factor which convinced me that I was right. Here was an attempt to put the poster high up on the artistic ladder and the resulting publicity was bound to do something that no amount of commercial advertising could possibly achieve" (ibid). This idyllic, sun-kissed scene of Aberdeen is the only known poster that Talmage designed.

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