Southport. ca. 1928. Fortunino Matania.
49 1/4 x 40 in./125 x 101.4 cm
Matania is one of the rare artists to have a total fluidity between the commercial and the artistic realms. The son of a Neapolitan artist, he was designing advertisements on his father's drafting table at 9 years old. Invited to London for the coronation of Edward II in 1902, he illustrated every royal event up to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth – and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy. A fine artist of the Great War, during the '20s he turned to Roman and Biblical history. These obsessions clearly informed this magnificent travel poster for Southport, a Merseyside spa town. Every expression and interaction is meaningful within this panorama.
Available at Auction June 22.