Southport The Venetian Bridge – Fortunino Matania – 1937.
The Naples-born, Italian artist, Fortunino Matania began his career in Italy, moving to London in 1902 to cover the coronation of Edward VII for The Graphic magazine. His art style made him a popular illustrator and Matania went on to work for various British companies. He painted artwork for Ovaltine, Burberry and of course the London, Midland and Scottish railway. Matania famously designed railway posters for Lytham St Annes, Blackpool and a couple, including this stunning railway poster for Southport.
At the turn of the 19th century, Southport became extremely popular with tourists. Years before the railway came to Southport, easy access was made possible by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It brought people from areas including Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton and Wigan. By 1820 the town was accepting over 20,000 visitors per year.
Southport offered and gained a reputation for being a more refined seaside resort than its Blackpool rival. The area offered Britain’s first Boulevard walk as well as its second longest seaside pier, widely considered to be the first entertainment pier and it renowned botanic gardens and park.
For this particular Southport poster, the Italian born Fortunino Matania was the perfect choice of artist. The poster features Southport’s fantastic Venetian Bridge lit up at night. In the foreground several Venetian-style gondala’s can be seen on the Marine lake with the focus on a group of people dressed in a variety of ‘fancy dress’ . Matania’s Southport posters presented the region as a classy, archetypal Victorian seaside resort.
Its a rare and highly sought after railway poster and can fetch significant amounts of money, with one selling as far back as 2016 for £2,400.
Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.
The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.