Set of Three Gouache Automobile Illustrations by Charles Burki, 1937
€ 2 200
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1937
Sheet size
26.5 × 40.5 cm (10.4 × 15.9 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-Bea17a, -17b, -17c
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Condition report: Very good overall, with strong original colors and minimal signs of age. Light handling wear and subtle edge toning consistent with period advertising artboards. Mounted with acid free tape on the edges.
About this sheet
A set of three original automobile illustrations by the Dutch artist Charles Burki (1909-1994), painted around 1937 in gouache on illustration board. Each is mounted separately, and together they read as presentation artwork for motor-car advertising, in the realistic, atmospheric manner of prewar magazine art.
The first shows a yellow four-door sedan driving along a mountain road, with snow-capped peaks and heavy storm clouds behind it. In the second a red sedan passes through flat green farmland under towering white clouds, with trees and a distant windmill on the horizon. The third shows a blue sedan on a snowy road, where children have built a snowman beside a family group and a small dark terrier runs through the snow. The cars are drawn with careful attention to proportion, chrome and reflections, and the figures and settings are kept deliberately simple so that the vehicle carries each scene.
Burki was born in the Dutch East Indies, trained as an architect and became one of the leading Dutch illustrators of the postwar decades, contributing to magazines and publishers in the Netherlands. These boards come from his earlier commercial work, before the war years.
