Oryan Thomas Cullen John (1 results)

Oblong 8vo. sales packet, 10.75 x 5.5 in., containing two packets of promotional samples: 1st - 25 colour-printed miniature car cards sized 10.7 x 5.5 in., all printed in full colour as samples for the typical 21 x 11 full size format car card, sales info, artist's biographies & illustrations in black & white on versos; 2nd - 11 (of 12) miniature posters sized 5.5 x 8.5 in. printed in full colour as samples for the typical 30 x 45 in. posters to be displayed in Subway tunnels, all w/ sales info & artist's biographies on versos (slight edgewear, 1 car card w/ very slight closed tear at fore-edge, very slight age toning), both sets, preserved w/ nearly intact remnants of original mailing envelope (chipping, edgewear, age toning, paint blot on back cover), still NF/G sets. First editions of these remarkable salesman sample cards issued in 1947 in order for the New York Subways Advertising Co. Inc., to boost advertising profits for the company which held the monopoly contract with the New York Subway Authority for decades. Following two reports generated in 1944 & 1945 by the CBS subsidiary -- "Readership of Subway Cards, First Medium in America's First Market" (1944) and "Detailed Circulation Analysis of New York Subway Advertising," these sample cards were able to indicate to potential advertisers that the 5.6 million monthly subway riders averaging 26 rides a month, with rides lasting over 23 minutes offered an invaluable captive audience. As indicated by the instructions on the original envelope here, the cards were to be returned to NYSA Co. after 5 days, and presumably they would either sign a contract, and NYSA Co. would subsequently pitch another client. The artists featured here offered some of the finest examples of Mid-Century-Modern American graphic designs, and presented striking eye-catching artwork to be displayed as car cards or posters.The miniature car cards include striking artwork designs from such artists as: Trude Margo (b. 1917), Austrian-American fashion and cover artist for Harper's Bazaar; Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954) considered the "Poster King;" Antonio Petrucelli (1907-1994) noted illustrator for House Beautiful, Fortune Magazine, The New Yorker, and Collier's Today, who would illustrate charts, diagrams, cover art, caricatures, and posters; Paul Rand (1914-1996) considered one of the premier Modernist graphic designers; Sascha Mauer (1897-1961), best remembered for his iconic ski and travel posters; Joseph Binder (1898-1972) Austrian-American poster designer recognized as one of the pioneers of modern poster art; Lucien Bernhard (1883-1972) a German-American poster artist well known for creating the Sachplakat poster style, as well as typeface designer, and graphic artist; Erik Nitsche (1908-1998) a pioneering design artist, and significant and influential post-War Modernist poster designer; Arthur Hawkins, Jr. (1903-1986) noted poster artist, dustjacket cover artist, and landscape painter, and many others. The packet of 11 miniature salesman sample poster designs opens with Kauffer's "Subway Posters Perform Daily Before Five Million Pairs of Eyes" which as one of the series of one-sheet designs at the core of the 1947-1948 advertising campaign won the Award for Distinctive Merit from the Art Directors Annual of Advertising & Editorial Art in 1948. Copies of the larger Kauffer poster, and the others in the series created immediate demand, and were subsequently shown as part of an exhibit of American poster art in Vienna, and then in Japan. Additional artists featured with the posters who did not contribute to the subway car cards series were Jean Carlu (1900-1997) who was a French graphic designer of poster, and essential for the War Bonds drive posters during World War II, and helped shape modern poster art through his bold, streamlined compositions; and Harker (1910-1961) noted book illustrator, poster artist and packaging illustrator in Chicago and the West Coast. Advertisements were always an integral part of New York's Subway system from the inception in 1904, and contracted to have advertising firms promote a mix of products and services to their patrons. The New York Subways Advertising Co. were also known for their very popular Miss Subways contest from 1941-1976, and winners until 1963 were chosen by John Robert Powers of the famed Powers Modeling Agency. This cataloguer was unable to locate any complete sets of the miniature colour posters in Worldcat, or, at auction in the last 25 years, except for two much more incomplete groupings - 7 & 9 miniature posters; No complete sets of the miniature Subway Car Cards are listed in Worldcat, and according to contemporary trade magazines, they were also available in black & white for the set of 25. See: Jodi Shapiro, The Hard Sell to Straphangers, Vital City (Oct. 2, 2024); 27 Annual of Advertising and Editorial Art. Reproductions from the Annual National Exhibition of Advertising, Art Directors Club of New York (1948), pp. 11-12.