Qantas - Europe St. Bernard

Qantas Airways (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) is the most popular airline in Australia, nicknamed The Flying Kangaroo. Founded in 1920, it is the third oldest airline in the world after KLM and Avianca. In 1935 Qantas operated its first overseas passenger flight from Brisbane to Singapore, a four-day trip. Today, Qantas flies to 20 domestic destinations and 21 international destinations in 14 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.

This poster was designed by Harry Rogers (1929-2012), Australian poster artist and graphic designer who worked for Qantas from the early 1950s through to 1985. He moved to California in 1953 to study Animation at UCLA; his love of animation is reflected in his poster designs. As a freelance artist he worked for different companies, such as Coca Cola and Colgate, but Qantas became his main client. He created a different ‘look' for each series by using different techniques: cut outs, collage and geometric shapes. Rogers also designed a font called cyclone, which Qantas used from 1970 to 1984 in all of their branding.

Rogers has chosen the dog St. Bernard to represent Europe. This breed from France, Switzerland and Italy is well known for the tales about their rescues of humans in the Alps. The dog is carrying on his neck the iconic and legendary barrel that contained brandy. The artist has chosen to represent the animal in a very cartoonish way, clearly because of his taste for animation. The dog standing on two legs has bright oranges, browns and whites that contrast perfectly with the dark green background.

Watch Gallery Owner Mickey Ross discuss our collection of Qantas posters in further detail, here: http://ow.ly/xIFz30bDCYN .

This is an Original Vintage Poster; it is not a reproduction. This poster is conservation mounted, linen backed, and in excellent condition. We guarantee the authenticity of all of our posters.