Item 1: Red Cross Air Race, ca. 1944 / by Linfay Lonsdale

XV/196

item

ca. 1944

9611457

1 collage - visible image 55.5 x 76.0 cm - paper and mixed media, hand painted, on card

The collage has been created by pasting pre-painted illustrations on paper, which were then pasted on thick cardboard. The design is a stylised chart of the Red Cross air race which begins in the lower left corner in Sydney, illustrated by a small red cross and a stylised fish. Shells, seahorses, fish sea monsters, penguins, trees, leaves and birds form trails between each destination. The first stop is Auckland, which is represented by a kiwi and a red cross. The trail continues to Fiji (a small house and red cross), Honolulu (a hula dancer and red cross), Vancouver (a maple leaf and red cross), New York (the Statue of Liberty and red cross), London (a guardsman and red cross), Geneva (doves and a red cross) and finally to the total raised, 1121.00 pounds, next to a larger red cross and a bird. Each leg of the race includes a running total of donations. On the left side of the poster are blue birds holding the names of firms whose staff, according to a red cross on the top right, contributed to the Air Race. A typed record of distances in air miles and the money raised is pasted in the top right corner. A handwritten title, decorated with birds, is pasted in the lower right corner and says, “Red Cross Air Race June 1944 amount raised by P.O.W. City Section for the H.Q. Branch Pilots". Below this is the artist's name. Principal colours include: blue, green, red, brown, silver and purple on a white background.

Copyright status:: In copyright
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder

Title devised by cataloguer

Signed 'Linfay Londsale' lower right