ARTHUR C. RADEBAUGH (1906-1974) UNITED AIR LINES MAINLINERS / FASTEST - SHORTEST - FAIR TO FAIR. Circa 1939.
40x25 inches, 101½x63½ cm.
Condition B+: tape residue and small tears at edges; pin holes in top corners; small paper remnants in silkscreened text. Paper.
A United Airlines Douglas DC-3 "Mainliner" makes its way across a truncated map of the United States. The plane is flying from the Golden Gate Bridge and the towers of Treasure Island at the San Francisco World's Fair to the New York World's Fair Trylon and Perisphere on the opposite side of the country. Radebaugh's love of the airbrush began with his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although virtually unknown in the poster community, he became a prolific illustrator for magazines including Esquire, Fortune, and Motor and produced advertisements for Coca-Cola and United Airlines as well as the auto industry. His trademark style was the ultimate in "luminous Art Deco . . . a sense of industrial design that was both pragmatic and prescient; he took what was cutting edge . . . and made them more elegant, functional and fantastical to behold" (http://arthur-radebaugh.blogspot.com/). This image also appeared as a calendar back. Airline p. 26, Airways p. 45.