Cuneo's Impressionism-influenced locomotive comes barreling across the northern plains in one of the only remaining examples of Cuneo's extensive series for Canadian Pacific Rail (CPR). Cyrus Cuneo's story is one of the most compelling and tragic we've come across. Born in San Francisco, this first-generation Italian-American was obsessed with going to Paris to become a painter. He and his brother saved every penny they earned while he started boxing. By the age of 19 he'd become the flyweight champion of the San Francisco area, and his savings and winnings sent him across the Atlantic. As his career developed, he was sent to Canada to produce this CPR poster series. And then, in 1916, he died at the age of 37—not in the War, but from blood poisoning contracted through the accidental stab of a hatpin at a dance he attended. Much of his superb work for Canada Pacific was destroyed when CPR's offices in London were firebombed in the Blitz. His son, Terence, became a prolific and noted poster artist in his own right.
W. H. Smith & Son, London
literature: PAI-LXXI, 318