Page 73 - Swann Galleries - Modernist Posters - Sale 2314 - May 13, 2013

ATTRIBUTED TO LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY (1895-1946)
85 ● IMPERIAL AIRWAYS / MAP OF EMPIRE AIR ROUTES. 1935.
25x39 1/2 inches, 63 1/2 x1001/4 cm. [Vincent Brooks Day & Son, London.]
Condition A- / B+: repaired tears and restoration at edges, some affecting lower image and text; minor
abrasions in image. Mounted on Japan.
An EXCEPTIONALLY SCARCE poster map for Imperial Airways, highlighting routes, destinations,
distances and the time needed to fly from London to various Imperial outposts. Moholy-Nagy moved
to London in 1935, where he began doing artwork for a men’s clothing store and producing publicity
material for Imperial Airways. He is credited with designing both a brochure and a poster map for the
airline in 1936, each of which was unsigned. While the brochure certainly has the modernist look
which Moholy-Nagy was known for, his poster map from 1936 does not bear any prominent stylistic
characteristics that would clearly identify it as one of his designs. There is no specific record of him
having designed this poster offered here, but the timing certainly fits with his employment by the
airline and the poster has an ink stamp on the back reading “Studio Boggeri S.A. Milano,” suggesting
that someone at the famous Italian design studio saw fit to include this image in the company archives.
We have been unable to find another copy of this image at auction since 1994.
[12,000/18,000]