E. McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954), Part I: The London Years
Born in Montana and raised in poverty in Indiana, Edward McKnight Kauffer rose from his humble origins to become one of the leading graphic designers of the twentieth century. As a young man, he made his way to Europe to study painting in Paris; the outbreak of World War I drove him to England, where he was impressed by the work of the Vorticists and would live for the next twenty-five years. Largely abandoning traditional painting in favor of commissioned designs, Kauffer helped to shape not only the nascent art of advertising but also the consciousness of scores of British citizens, for whom Kauffer’s striking posters for the London Underground and Shell Oil—to name only his most prominent commissions—helped to shape the look of daily life in modern Britain. Just as his work of the 1910s registered the influence of avant-garde art, his work of the 1920s and 1930s is characterized by significant experimentation in the use of photomontage, modern typography, and airbrushing. His prodigious output also included book covers and illustrations, theatrical sets, textiles, and interior design, but it was his poster design that made Kauffer both commercially successful and a revered artist in interwar England. As he wrote in his book The Art of the Poster (1924): “The good Poster may be compared to a well-selected fly cast by a skillful angler who knows his particular fish.”
The current exhibition is divided into two parts. Part I: The London Years, presented here, includes Kauffer’s work in England from the 1910s until his departure for the U.S. in 1940, excluding his extensive work for Shell. Please click here to view Part II: Shell Oil and Return to America, which includes Kauffer’s work for Shell—including not only finished posters, but also sketches and maquettes—as well as his work in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s.
A number of works from the Merrill C. Berman Collection are included in the major exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, which is scheduled to open in Spring 2021. They also appear in the substantial companion publication E. McKnight Kauffer: The Artist in Advertising (Rizzoli, 2020), edited by exhibition curators Caitlin Condell and Emily M. Orr and published in October 2020.
Note: The research and writing for both parts of this online exhibition were prepared by Madeline Collins. The cataloguing and biographical information presented here rely heavily on the following publications: Mark Haworth-Booth, E. McKnight Kauffer: A Designer and His Public (London: V&A Publications, 2005); Brian Webb and Peyton Skipwith, Design: E. McKnight Kauffer (Woodbridge, Suffolk, and Easthampton, Massachusetts: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2007); Alexandra Harris, The Poster King: E. McKnight Kauffer (Estorick Foundation, 2011); and Teri J. Edelstein, Art for All: British Posters for Transport (Yale University Press, 2010); as well as on the online resources related to the rich holdings of the Cooper Hewitt; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Selected Posters (1910s–1920s)
E. McKnight Kauffer: The Art of the Poster (1924)
In 1924, less than ten years after his arrival in England and at the young age of thirty-four, Kauffer designed and edited The Art of the Poster: Its Origin, Evolution and Purpose, an ambitious illustrated history of the poster that illustrated his deep knowledge of form and within which he boldly inserted his own achievements. Among the examples of contemporary posters that Kauffer included in the almost 200-page book were six of his own works, including a reproduction of Soaring to Success!
Eastman and Son
From 1921 to 1927, Kauffer produced posters and other designs for the London dry cleaning firm Eastman and Son. The posters were displayed in the London Underground; such was Kauffer’s fame, even at this early stage of his career, that when he was working on his next design a sticker would be displayed on the station boards that read: “A new McKnight Kauffer poster will be here shortly.”
The London Underground
Shortly after his arrival in London, Kauffer met Frank Pick (1878–1941), the Publicity Manager of the London Underground, who was embarking on a campaign to improve the quality of advertising for the Underground and, later, for transportation throughout the London metropolitan area. Pick’s commissions—which later also included Man Ray, Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland, and others—launched Kauffer’s career and made his designs recognizable to millions of British citizens.
Museums and Exhibitions
Informational
London Transport
In 1933, public transportation services in the greater London area—including the London Underground—were unified under the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), whose public name and brand was “London Transport.” The chief executive officer of the LPTB was Frank Pick, who continued to commission posters from Kauffer for London Transport.
Selected Posters (1930s)
General Post Office
Kauffer began receiving commissions from Britiain’s General Post Office (GPO) in the 1930s, when one of his major clients, Stephen Tallents of the Empire Marketing Board, became the GPO’s first Public Relations Officer. For the series Outposts of Britain, Kauffer signed several prints “E McKnight Kauffer, Hon. D. I.”; in 1936 he had become the first recipient of the distinction of Honorary Designer for Industry (D. I.), given by the Royal Society of Arts. Kauffer’s title was honorary because he was not a British citizen.
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
In 1928, the BBC—officially founded under this name in 1927—began publishing an annual book that provided a behind-the-scenes look at the broadcaster’s technical operations. Kauffer designed the covers for the first two editions.
Fortnum and Mason
The iconic British department store Fortnum & Mason, founded in 1707, commissioned several designs from Kauffer in the early and mid-1930s, including invitations and announcements of new collections.
W & A Gilbey
Kauffer designed seven small posters for the London-based wine and spirits merchant W & A Gilbey in 1933, as well as printed matter such as the booklet below.
Colas Group
The Colas Group was founded in 1929 in France by Shell and the Société Générale d’Entreprises, and in its early years specialized in bitumen production and road works.
The Film Society
Kauffer was a co-founder of the Film Society, which was established in 1925 to promote experimental cinema in London. While it is not clear if he designed these covers, he designed the group’s logo incorporated on them. His work in film also includes a 1926 design for an unrealized poster for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, as well as the title sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger (1926).
The Orient Line
Kauffer was deeply involved in creating the brand identity of the Orient Line ocean liners, designing brochures, luggage labels, invitations, posters, china, and even a large glass mirror engraved with the constellation Orion; while his partner and future wife, the artist Marion Dorn, produced textiles for the ships.