Edward McKnight Kauffer 1890–1954 Daily Herald / Soaring to Success! (Exceptionally rare vintage poster)
Caption Brief: "This soaring Kauffer design began its artistic journey as a black-and-white woodcut in 1916 and in time found its way to being used for the relaunching of the British Labour Party newspaper, the Daily Herald. It is also one of the most rare Art Deco posters ever created and is the design that transformed Kauffer from an artist struggling to gain recognition into one of the most distinguished graphic designers of the period and the most outstanding poster artist in Great Britain. There are only three other known copies of this famous poster—a longer, three-sheet copy, housed in London's Victoria and Albert Museum [...]. One of the incomplete, one-sheet copies resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The two-sheet copy (missing only the larger yellow background area in the middle) is seen here" (The Art Deco Poster, Crouse, p. 103).
1918 / 1919
77 h × 59⅝ w in (196 × 151 cm)
T.B. Lawrence Ltd., London
Provenance: Collection of William Crouse
Exhibited: Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer, 10 September 2021 - 10 April 2022, Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York | Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration, 31 August 2025 - 29 March 2026, Sarasota Art Museum, Florida
Condition: Cond B+: with creases, repaired tears, touch-ups, and minor areas of replaced paper. Work has not been examined out of frame but is fully visible. Framed behind acrylic measuring 82.75 × 65.125 × 1.5 inches.
Literature: The Art Deco Poster, Crouse, p. 102
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Caption Brief: "This soaring Kauffer design began its artistic journey as a black-and-white woodcut in 1916 and in time found its way to being used for the relaunching of the British Labour Party newspaper, the Daily Herald. It is also one of the most rare Art Deco posters ever created and is the design that transformed Kauffer from an artist struggling to gain recognition into one of the most distinguished graphic designers of the period and the most outstanding poster artist in Great Britain. There are only three other known copies of this famous poster—a longer, three-sheet copy, housed in London's Victoria and Albert Museum [...]. One of the incomplete, one-sheet copies resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The two-sheet copy (missing only the larger yellow background area in the middle) is seen here" (The Art Deco Poster, Crouse, p. 103).
1918 / 1919
77 h × 59⅝ w in (196 × 151 cm)
T.B. Lawrence Ltd., London
Provenance: Collection of William Crouse
Exhibited: Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer, 10 September 2021 - 10 April 2022, Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York | Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration, 31 August 2025 - 29 March 2026, Sarasota Art Museum, Florida
Condition: Cond B+: with creases, repaired tears, touch-ups, and minor areas of replaced paper. Work has not been examined out of frame but is fully visible. Framed behind acrylic measuring 82.75 × 65.125 × 1.5 inches.
Literature: The Art Deco Poster, Crouse, p. 102
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
