Artist: Willem Frederick Ten Broek
Condition: A- *
Dimensions: 25.2 x 37.9 in. / 64 x 96.3 cm.
Circa: 1936
Linen Backed
* See Condition Grading section for further details
There is restored edge and corner wear, tears, creasing, crinkling, loss; 2.5" vertical tear top edge near the middle and going down slightly into the grey above the ship's hull; some surface scuffs/abrasions, most noticeable in the blue parts of the bottom corner areas; some tears in the bottom margin entering the printer's text; some small creases in image; overall the poster looks great and will display beautifully once framed.
This poster is in the same visual tradition as Cassandre's Normandie, and nearly its equal. Ten Broek's composition is pure art deco power: the vast hull of a Holland America liner looms from an extreme low angle, the warm bronze bow filling the frame against a deep cobalt sky, the distinctive HAL funnel just visible at the upper left. Bold, minimal, and completely assured.
Ocean liner posters of this graphic quality are genuinely scarce, and Holland America examples in particular are underrepresented in the market relative to their French and British counterparts, making this a strong find for collectors of maritime art deco and transatlantic shipping history.