A Royal Mail Line 'Cruise with the Sun....Atlantis Cruises' advertising poster, by Sanders Phillips & Co., The Bayard Press, London. The poster features a brightly coloured, potentially tropical background, with a prominent vessel with 'Atlantis' emblazoned on the side. The poster also contains a reminder of the agency's name and address. Minor discolourations and markings are visible around the edges of the poster.
The artist, Kenneth Denton Shoesmith (1890–1939), left a career at sea in 1918 to devote himself to painting. He quickly developed a keenly appreciated graphic style and was in demand for advertising posters, especially those for the Royal Mail Line. He was also employed on the interiors of the ‘Queen Mary’. Following his death at the age for 48 in 1939, an obituarist wrote: ‘As a poster painter, he was quite definitely in the front rank of those who are content to paint what they see and know. His was direct in his methods, sound in his drawing and brilliant in his colour. His ships were not only correct in detail but always in and not on the water, for he painted with a seaman’s knowledge as well as an artist’s perception.’ Those qualities certainly come through in the distinctive design of this poster.