Description
The Great Western Railway (GWR) shipping service was a branch of the GWR train line, originally founded in 1833. Parliament granted the company permission to operate ships in 1871. The offered poster promotes the sister ships St. Julien and St. Helier launched in March of 1925. With their twin screw steam turbines and 18 knots of speed power, the sisters were fast and quickly became a popular line of transportation between the Southern coast of England and the Channel Islands. A legend in the lower left margin of the poster reads “Felix F.C. Pole, Manager.” This is in reference to Sir Felix John Clewett Pole, a British railway manager and industrialist, who served as general manager of the Great Western Railway from 1921 to 1929. Accordingly the poster can be dated to between about 1925, when the ships were launched, to 1929.
Charles Pears was a British painter, illustrator, and lithographer best known for his naval and marine art. Pears’ career began in the late 1890s, working initially as a magazine illustrator and poster artist. Notably, his early illustrated works were included in periodicals such as The Illustrated London News and Punch, as well as Lewis Carroll’s Alice Adventures in Wonderland and the works of Charles Dickens. Pears’ poster career meanwhile largely focused on commercial commissions for infrastructure companies, such as the London Underground, the Metropolitan Railway, Southern Railway, Great Western Railway, and British Railways. As a marine painter, Charles Pears often signed his work as Chas Pears, gaining a reputation as a sound marine painter with a strong sense of design. From 1939 to 1957, Pears was the first president of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. He also was a member of The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the Fine Art Society, and the New English Art Club. With the outbreak of the First World War, Pears was appointed as the Official War Artist to the Admiralty and served as a commissioned officer in the Royal Marines. Pears served again as a War Artist in the Second World War, focusing on a historical depiction of wartime and conflict in Britain. Many of his works from this period are now part of leading maritime and travel collections, such as the Imperial War Museum and the National Railway Museum.
Full Title: GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. New Fast Turbine Steamers “St. Julien” and “St. Helier” now running between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. Accelerated Services
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning and wear. Some folds, apparently as issued, now flattened. Silver frame with the usual overall light wear and handling. Poster not examined out of frame.
References:
“Charles Pears” Art United Kingdom. https://artuk.org/discover/artists/pears-charles-18731958 (28 August 2024).
“Charles Pears – Artist and Sailor with Ties to Cornwall” National Maritime Museum Cornwall. https://nmmc.co.uk/2024/05/charles-pears-artist-and-sailor-with-ties-to-cornwall/ (28 August 2024).
“Charles Pears.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Pears (28 August 2024).
“Great Western Railway.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway (28 August 2024).
“St. Helier and St. Julien” The Island Wiki. https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/St_Helier_and_St_Julien (28 August 2024).
