These handbills are about to go to sale at Swann Galleries‘ annual Rare and Important Travel Poster auction in New York. The journey-to-Canada ads are among several hundred pieces of travel art deemed significant because they were previously not in circulation, or because of their dazzling themes or color.
Above is Rod Ruth’s Go Greyhound, Circa 1960. He was a regular designer for Greyhound, creating posters for locations all along the bus company’s routes. The Swann catalogue highlights this image by Tom Purvis, called Canadian Pacific / Happy Cruises, 1937.
A poster for Indian Days, circa 1930, designer unknown, is described in the catalogue this way.
“The gathering of Native peoples in Banff was an annual festival from 1900-1978. The railroad had been promoting the event since at least the 1920s, and here, in a series of photographs, members of the Stoney tribe are depicted in all of their ethnic splendor.” Swann Galleries
Artist Peter Ewart (1918-2001) worked for Canadian Pacific Railway for 20 years and created more than 24 posters for the company.
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Have you travelled to Western Canada? The building of the West involved the Mounties, building of our national railroads.
Hence, one sees posters at Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, the Mounties depicted on oil paintings at Fort Calgary. There are actually several RCMP museums in Western Canada.
My blog covers some of this art history.
Hi Jean – Thanks for pointing out your blog, and for your comments. Yes, in fact, I have been to the Mountie museum in Fort Macleod and traveled a lot in the West. The RCMP is so much more part of life there than in central Canada, isn’t it?
Love these vintage travel posters. Great colors and lines.