Saturday 4 June 2016

mid-century mฤori

Collectors’ Weekly has very circumspect and well-researched article on the graphic artist Marcus King, whose tenure at the country’s board of tourism (the first nation in the world to create a ministry for that express purpose) helped tout remote and exotic New Zealand to the traveling public and celebrated its aboriginal peoples and culture.  Being rather a tough sell, owing to the particular challenges of reaching the island, King and other artists of his time necessarily had to be prolific in promotion. And though a demographic-shift in the availability of global transportation has made visiting New Zealand more attainable, the far-away allure is evinced by the effect that the Ring cycle of Tolkien has had of late as heir to this business of selling a setting. Be sure to check out the full vignette on Collectors’ Weekly to learn more and to browse a gallery of these vintage travel posters.