Play Between 6 and 12--The Bright Hours

Vincent Brooks, Day & Son|Edward McKnight Kauffer|Underground Electric Railways of London

1930; printed 1931 · Lithograph · Drawings and Prints

The foremost interwar poster artist in Britain, Kauffer achieved great attention for his bold modernist posters commissioned by London public transportation executive and contemporary art patron Frank Pick to advertise the London Underground and related services. Here, Kauffer captured the machine forms and sense of velocity and dynamism associated with the Underground, or Tube. Using an airbrush to make the numbers appear to project toward the viewer, he combined imagery and text to promote the Tube as a means for recreation in the evening ("the bright hours"). A related poster, Shop Between 10 and 4 – The Quiet Hours (1930), uses a similar design and palette to advertise the usefulness of the city’s public transportation system for leisure activities outside of peak commuting hours.

Artist

Vincent Brooks, Day & Son|Edward McKnight Kauffer|Underground Electric Railways of London

Date

1930; printed 1931

Medium

Lithograph

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, Peco Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019