E. McKnight Kauffer

Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954) was born in Great Falls, Montana, though he became a major figure in British advertising art between the wars. He attended evening classes in painting at the Mark Hopkins Institute, San Francisco from 1911–1913, and spent six months at the Chicago Art Institute (1913).  

He went to Paris to study painting and at the outbreak of World War I, he moved to London. In 1915, he received his first poster commission from Frank Pick of the London Underground. He designed over 140 posters for the London Underground  and many others for such clients as Shell, British Petroleum, and Eastman & Sons. Kauffer returned to the United States in 1940 where he produced several posters for a variety of clients including  American Airlines (1947–48) and the New York Subway Advertising Co. Inc. (1949) and the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Random House as well as several others.

Livingston, Alan and Isabella. The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers. London: Thames and Hudson, 2003.