South Seas

Year: circa 1938
Artist: Paul George Lawler
Size: 42 x 28
Method: Lithograph
 
Notable sales:
Swann Auction Galleries, Nov 2022, $32,000
Swann Auction Galleries, Oct 2016, $20,000
Swann Auction Galleries, Nov 2021, $15,000 (blank poster, no text)
Swann Auction Galleries, Nov 2008, $8,400 (blank poster, no text)
 
South Seas is clearly one of the masterpieces of early travel posters. South Seas has the distinction for achieving the highest known price for a Pan Am poster when it sold at Swann's in 2022 for  $32,000.
 
Lawler designed a series of posters for Pan Am capturing the exotic adventure and glamour of air travel during the "golden age." Several posters from this series stand as poster icons that capture the first wave of destination tourism. Rio de Janeiro and Peru's Machu Pichu in South America, Hawaii and the South Seas across the Pacific and Wings to Europe / America are a few of the most iconic and valuable of these images. Posters in this series are very rare and hard to find in good condition.