Unfolding a beautiful find

Several years ago, a kind neighbor gave me a collection of travel brochures she had acquired in her youth in the 1950s by sending requests away to various travel boards around the United States and beyond. Being the vintage ephemera nut that I am, I was thrilled. I love using them as reference for my own work.

This is one of my favorites. The brochure has remained folded in its original envelope for about 60 years. The cover is a litho print with colors that really caught my eye. Imagine my delight when I unfolded the brochure to find that the art extended across four panels (see below). 

I was even more delighted to find a signature on the illustration art. It is signed "Bern Hill". I did a little sleuthing and found that Bern Hill (1911-1977) was a freelance illustrator and painter during the mid-20th century. At askART.com I found more information on his work:

"A free-lance illustrator and painter, Bern Hill is known for his aesthetically innovative and historically important railroad illustrations and for his regional scene painting of Connecticut where he lived for much of his career. Of him it was written that he had a 'running love affair with New England and its "magnificent architecture." His clean, precise technique is as cool as a Connecticut morning.' (Meehan) 

"For an illustrator of the mid-20th century, he had a unique style that combined abstraction with realism and challenged viewers with philosophical complexities that were unfamiliar in advertising art."

I haven't found this particular image from the Bermuda brochure cover out on the internet, so I wanted to upload it here in case anyone wants to reference this beautiful work.

You can view the above image larger by clicking on it above.

To download a free hi-res (600 dpi) copy of the image:

1. Click on the image below to view the larger size
2. Right-click on the image
3. Select "Save Image As..." and save to your computer