Gallery I |
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Catalogue Details Tom Ellis, architect 1911-1988 A pair of Art Deco designs for the decoration of a Sun Lounge and Bar on board an ocean liner, possibly for the Queen Mary, c.1936 Pencil, watercolours and gouache (i) 28 x 44.5 cms (ii) 28 x 53.5 cms Provenance: family of the architect The development of the ocean liner as a symbol of modernity and modern travel in the ART DECO period was far-reaching. The great ships built during the 1920s and 1930s and operating across the north Atlantic, illustrate the combination of Art Deco style with speed, efficiency and excellence that gave rise to the concept of the luxury hotel liner. These ships set new standards in modern comfort and speed and they all competed for the coveted Blue Riband for the fastest passenger ship crossing. Hollywood loved the setting of a luxury ocean liner for its musicals of the Art Deco period, while real life passengers might allow themselves to imagine their own trans-atlantic voyage to play out its own musical drama. In 1934 Cunard launched the Queen Mary and in May 1936 she sailed to New York on her maiden voyage. While the French liner the Normandie, launched in 1932, was designed to be the last word in elegance and opulence, the Queen Mary was a modern ship with less extreme Art Deco styling and displaying a popular and contemporary look made familiar in Britain by modern houses. She soon gained the Blue Riband prize for the swiftest crossing (the fastest being 3 days, 20 hours and 40 minutes). This pair of designs are for the sun lounge and bar of an ocean liner, most probably the Queen Mary. They are distinct in their consideration of smart, modern comfort, over the opulence and excess of other liners, that marked the style of the Queen Mary. A lovely pair of designs for lovers of art deco colours and interior design. |