‘Winter Sales’ Print by McKnight Kauffer

This poster was commissioned by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in 1921. It was designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer and captures the dynamics of a crowd heading through the London rain towards the winter sales. The bold shapes and blocks of flat colour suggest the influence of traditional Japanese woodcuts. The abstract swirl of a coat tail in the wind and the shards of rain that slice diagonally through the composition recall Kauffer’s brief association with Vorticism.