1940s Santa Fe Railway: Grand Canyon, Arizona
By: Oscar M. Bryn
Date: 1940s (circa) Chicago
Dimensions: 22 x 16 inches (56 x 40.5 cm)
This is a striking, mid-century vintage poster of the Grand Canyon produced for the Santa Fe Railway which touts itself as "the only railroad entering this National Park." The scene depicts a couple, likely of the Navajo tribe standing at the edge of a cliff gazing upon the vast expanse of Grand Canyon with the mighty Colorado River running through. The colors are alluring and offer a wonderful view of the national treasure as the sun sets to the west.
The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) was founded in 1859 at the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. The railway was largely responsible for "settling the west" by establishing a number of real estate offices to sell farmland through land grants awarded to them by congress. This further generated demand for railway service extension and frequency of travel. Eventually, the company offered a bus line service to help passengers reach unique and remote destinations not unsuitable for a major railroad. At one time, the ATSF operated a tugboat fleet, ferryboats in San Francisco, and a short-lived airline known as the Santa Fe Skyway. In 1996 the railway merged with its northern counterpart the Burlington Northern to become the BNSF Railway we know today.
Oscar M. Bryn (1883 - 1967) Was an American born landscape artist of Norwegian decent. Bryn studied at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute and got his first post-graduate job with the art department of the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1913 Oscar Bryn moved to Los Angeles and took a job as a poster artist for the Santa Fe Railway. He later moved to Chicago where he continued working for them as well as Marshall Field and spent many years as art director for Erwin Wasey Company. He eventually moved back to California in the 1950s where he resided in Sebastopol until his death in 1967.
Condition: This poster is in A+ condition, with lavish color on clean paper. The poster has been linen-backed for preservation and presentation purposes.
Inventory #12025
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622