Posters to be auctioned at Christie's

FIVE vintage railway posters depicting "romantic" scenes of Suffolk are expected to reach more than £3,000 at auction.

The posters, which featured on station billboards in the 1950s and 60s, promote areas of Suffolk and give people travelling on the trains a taster of fine art.

Christie's in London is auctioning them on September 10 at 2pm as part of a collection of British and Irish travel posters.

Ipswich-born artist and founder member of the town's art club, Leonard Russell Squirrel , painted a village scene of Coddenham for an undated poster, which could be bought for up to £700 at the sale.

But Josephine Walpole, who lives in Martlesham Heath, Ipswich and has written about the artist, said: "I do not think the posters are characteristic of his work really. They are part of the commercial side of him and this was not a favourite side.

"They were mainly painted in his younger days when he needed to earn money. The size of the posters meant he could not put in the sort of detail he included in his etchings."

Frank Henry Mason was the son of a railway clerk and a keen traveller as well as a prolific poster designer for the railways. His two posters from the East Coast Landmarks series, which feature Orford Ness and Lowestoft, could fetch up to £700.

Nicolette White, poster specialist at Christie's, said the posters, which are 102cm by 64cm, are affordable pieces of artwork small enough for people's homes.

She said: "The railways provided the text about the place at the bottom then the artist was given artistic license to paint the poster in their own style.

"People looked forward to the new posters coming up as they were such attractive images. The ones of Suffolk are quite painterly and romantic, showing sunny days and interesting places."

There will be preview days of the posters at Christie's on September 7 between 1pm and 4pm, September 8 between 9am and 7.30pm, September 9 between 9am and 5pm and September 10 between 9am and 12pm.