POSTER: EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954).

EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1890-1954) FOR ALL THEATRES / TRAVEL UNDERGROUND. 1930.
40 1/4x25 inches, 102x63 1/2 cm.
Condition B / B+: repaired tears, creases, abrasions and restoration in margins; discoloration at edges.
Frank Pick pioneered advertising in Britain. For over thirty years he was in charge of the London Underground's ad campaigns, serving as a great artistic patron to the graphic arts. He commissioned hundreds of young designers to promote the subways and buses of London. In 1915, he gave McKnight Kauffer his first commission. Over the next 20 years, Kauffer designed 141 posters for the company, as well as undertaking the redesign of subway stations, the installation of murals and much more. This poster takes the common theme of a dramatic mask and adds a shadow that appears that appears as if cast by the theatre's lights. The symetrical typography creates a "stage" in which the mask appears. Kauffer 133.