GERT SELLHEIM (1901-1970)
55
●
SUNSHINE AND SURF / AUSTRALIA. Circa 1936.
40x25
3
/
4
inches, 101
1
/
2
x65
1
/
2
cm. Troedel & Cooper, [Melbourne.]
Condition A.
Estonian-born Sellheim studied architecture in Germany and Austria before migrating to Australia in
1926. He worked as an architect for two years and then turned to designing posters. Along with James
Northfield and Percy Trompf, Sellheim is considered to be one of the finest artists who designed travel
posters in Australia in the 1930s. He brings an element of the European avant-garde to his work and
his posters are “distinguished by their innovative design, in particular the use of montage” (Trading
Places 29). In 1939, Sellheim won the Sulman Prize for his interior designs in the Victorian Tourism
Bureau at the New York World’s Fair. He is most famous for designing the flying kangaroo logo for
Qantas Airlines. Voyage p. 64.
[4,000/6,000]
