A Brief History of Poster Designer Edward McKnight Kauffer
Edward McKnight Kauffer started his life in an orphanage after his parents divorced. Six years later at the age of 9 his mother re-married and took him back. Although his family were quite poor Kauffer managed to get to San Francisco in 1910 where he worked at a local bookstore.
It was in this bookstore where he met Joseph McKnight, the man who would later lend Kauffer enough money to study art in Paris.
When McKnight discovered that Kauffer had been taking evening classes in art he saw an exciting raw talent and a rough diamond waiting to be polished. As a humble man respectful of those willing to help, Edward Kauffer adapted the name of his bookshop patron and became McKnight Kauffer.
Paris beckoned but a year after Kauffer arrived the First World War broke out. He decided he needed to return to the USA. Before crossing back over the Atlantic he stopped in London and found an inspirational city ready to work with his talents. He would end up staying in London for almost 30 years.
It was in London where he met Frank Pick — the forward thinking joint assistant manager of the London underground. He and Pick worked together on over 140 posters for the London Underground.
When Kauffer eventually moved back to the USA he forged a strong relationship with American Airlines producing a series of posters for the airline that became iconic for the brand at the time. In this series it’s possible to see the moment the aviation industry shifted from advertising their own planes and in-flight services to advertising the destination the traveller would reach.
Kauffer’s posters symbolise this. They sold you the city. The destination. For an airline poster to not show a single plane in their advertising was revolutionary.
Kauffer died in 1954 but his work still serves as inspiration to many poster designers today.
