Exhibitions: ‘Australian Airliners Across the Pacific’, ‘Airmail Down Under’ and ‘Flying the Southern Cross Route: Seventy-Five years of Australian Commercial Air Service to North America’ at SFO Museum, San Francisco international airport

Australian Airliners Across the Pacific exhibition dates: 4th March 2021 – 28th November 2022

International Terminal: Aviation Museum & Library

Airmail Down Under exhibition dates: 4th March 2021 – 2nd December 2022

International Terminal: Aviation Museum & Library

Flying the Southern Cross Route: Seventy-Five years of Australian Commercial Air Service to North America exhibition dates: 8th January 2022 – 5th March 2023

International Terminal: Aviation Museum & Library

Australian Airliners Across the Pacific

Anonymous photographer
British Commonwealth Pacific Airways (BCPA) Douglas DC-4 R.M.A. Resolution at Nadi Airport, Fiji
1948
Gelatin silver photograph
Courtesy AussieAirliners.org and Whites Aviation via Sheehan Collection

The first leg of a flight from Australia to the United States was from Sydney to Nadi, in Fiji. The journey was just under two thousand miles and took about nine hours.

I wholeheartedly commend the SFO Museum for the exhibitions they put on. The themes of their exhibitions are always interesting, eclectic and memorable.

As with my recent posting on their exhibition Japonisme, other current exhibitions include fascinating topics such as The Victorian Papered Wall and California Modernist Women: Groundbreaking Creativity … and the photographs used to illustrate the exhibitions online are always so polished and professional.

While two of the exhibitions in this posting have already finished, the exhibition Flying the Southern Cross Route: Seventy-Five years of Australian Commercial Air Service to North America continues until 5th March 2023. Viewing the history of air routes across the Pacific Ocean to the United States recorded through photographs, objects, posters and attire makes you realise – back in those early days of trans-Pacific flight – how long it took to get anywhere; how glamorous, class-orientated and exclusive flying was in those days; and how precarious and dangerous flying in twin turbo-prop aircraft or seaplanes could be.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to the SFO Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Anonymous photographer
British Commonwealth Pacific Airways (BCPA) Douglas DC-6 R.M.A. Endeavor on approach to San Francisco
1952
Gelatin silver photograph
Courtesy AussieAirliners.org and W. Larkins Collection

Anonymous photographer
Qantas Airways Boeing 707 City of Canberra on inaugural Sydney to San Francisco flight
1959
Gelatin silver photograph
Courtesy Qantas Heritage Collection

In the wake of World War II, Australian airline companies embarked on the task establishing an air route across the Pacific Ocean to the United States. Initially, the long, island-hopping journey stopped at several wartime airfields along the way. Australians dubbed this transpacific airway the Southern Cross Route, named after Charles Kingsford-Smith’s aircraft the Southern Cross, the first to make the long flight between the two countries in 1928. Smith had named his aircraft after one of the signature constellations of the southern hemisphere. The first passenger flights in the late 1940s lasted almost two days and made three stops along the way. In the decades that followed, faster and longer-ranged aircraft improved the experience of the flight. Today, non-stop air travel between the two countries requires only fifteen hours of flight. This exhibition illustrates the evolution of the aircraft and the passenger service through images drawn from the collections of the Qantas Heritage Collection and AussieAirliners.org.

Text from the SFO Museum website

Anonymous photographer
Qantas Airways first class “Blue Ribbon Service” aboard Boeing 707s
c. 1960
Courtesy Qantas Heritage Collection

Anonymous photographer
Qantas Airways upper deck “Captain Cook Lounge” aboard Boeing 747s
Early 1970s
Gelatin silver photograph
Courtesy Qantas Heritage Collection

Anonymous photographer
Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400ER Fraser Island at San Francisco International Airport
2018
Courtesy AussieAirliners.org and G. Snyder

Although a common and beloved site for decades, Qantas is taking advantage of the lull caused by the COVID pandemic to accelerate the retirement of their 747 fleet. The aircraft will be replaced by more efficient and economical twin-engine wide-body models.

Flying the Southern Cross Route: Seventy-Five years of Australian Commercial Air Service to North America

Qantas Empire Airways advertisement
1950s
Paper, ink
Collection of SFO Museum
Gift of Qantas Airways Limited

Following the historic first flight from North America to Australia by Charles Kingsford Smith and crew in 1928, the transpacific “Southern Cross” route – named after the aircraft they flew, the Fokker F.VIIb/3m Southern Cross – received worldwide fame. After World War II, BCPA (British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines) and ANA (Australian National Airways) commenced commercial air services on their branded “Southern Cross Route” between Australia and San Francisco via Fiji and Hawai’i. When Qantas Empire Airways acquired BCPA in 1954, the airline assumed operations of the route. Since then, Qantas has continuously offered premier air service between the two continents on the most advanced airliners of the day. Through a diverse collection of airliner models, promotional items, meal service wares, cabin crew uniforms, and photographs, Flying the Southern Cross Route presents a legacy of Australian air service on this long celebrated route that connects two diverse regions and both hemispheres.

Text from the SFO Museum website

Anonymous photographer
BCPA (British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines) stewardess Daughne Kelpe on the stairs next to a BCPA Douglas DC-4
Late 1940s
Gelatin silver photograph
Qantas Heritage Collection

BCPA (British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines) coaster and ashtray
c. 1950
Wood, paint, paper, metal, ink
SFO Museum
Coaster: gift of Thomas G. Dragges
Ashtray: gift of Walton F. Kemmerle

Anonymous photographer
Qantas Empire Airways Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation at San Francisco International Airport
c. 1958
Gelatin silver photograph
Collection of SFO Museum

Qantas Empire Airways Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation model aircraft
1950s
Raise Up, Rotterdam, Holland
Scale 1:72
Metal, paint
Courtesy of Anthony J. Lawler

Qantas Airways Boeing 707 model aircraft
c. 2006
Scale 1:200
Corgi Classics
Metal, paint
SFO Museum

Emilio Pucci (Italian, 1914-1992) (designer)
Qantas Airways flight hostess dress
1974
Polyester, wool
SFO Museum
Dress gift of Margaret Bowen-Jones

Emilio Pucci (Italian, 1914-1992) (designer)
Qantas Airways male service director uniform
1974
Polyester, wool, cotton
SFO Museum
Jacket, pants, and tie gift of Juris Turmanis

Wedgwood, England (manufacturer)
Qantas Airways “Alice Springs” first-class meal service set
1970s
Ceramic, glaze
SFO Museum
Gift of Thomas G. Dragges

Qantas Airways flatware set
1970s
Metal
SFO Museum
Knife gift of Adam Wong
Spoon and fork gift of Thomas G. Dragges

Yves Saint Laurent (French, 1936-2008)
Qantas Airways female flight attendant uniform
1986
Polyester, cotton, plastic
SFO Museum
Gift of Suzanne de Monchaux

Qantas Flight Service Director uniform
c. 1987
Wool, cotton, polyester, metal, plastic
Collection of SFO Museum
Gift of Ron Reyn

Wedgwood, England (manufacturer)
Qantas Airways first class meal service set
1990s
Ceramic
Collection of SFO Museum

Peter Morrissey (Australian, b. 1968) (designer)
Qantas Airways female flight attendant dress and name tag
2003
Polyester, plastic
Collection of SFO Museum
Gift of Suzanne de Monchaux

Qantas Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner model aircraft
c. 2019
Scale 1:140
Plastic resin, metal, ink
Collection of SFO Museum

Airmail Down Under

Anonymous photographer
Pan American Airways Martin M-130 Hawaii Clipper in Honolulu
c. 1935
Gelatin silver photograph
SFO Museum, Gift of the Pan Am Association

Pan American Airways, Honolulu-San Francisco airmail flight cover
March 16, 1939
Paper, ink
SFO Museum

In the 1920s, aviation visionaries imagined how the nations of the Pacific Rim could be linked by a new mode of transportation, the aircraft. Governments encouraged the development of new air routes with lucrative airmail contracts and the Pacific arena was no exception. One of the key obstacles to this endeavour was the vast 2400-mile water gap between the coast of California and the Hawaiian Islands. To successfully traverse this distance and open the rest of the Pacific region for air travel, the U.S. Navy attempted a flight using two Naval Aircraft Factory PN-9 flying boats in 1925. One plane turned back, but the other, led by Commander John Rodgers, continued, only to run out of fuel about four hundred miles from Hawai’i. Commander Rodgers managed to complete the journey by stripping fabric off the wings and fashioning improvised sails. In 1928, an aircrew led by Australian Charles Kingsford Smith flew the modified Fokker F.VIIb Southern Cross to Hawai’i, then continued on to Fiji and, finally, to Brisbane, Australia. In the 1930s, the U.S. Navy developed a practical flight route to Hawai’i with a squadron of Consolidated P2Y patrol aircraft. making the journey. In 1935, Pan American Airways opened the first regularly scheduled air service flying the Sikorsky S-42 and Martin M-130 flying boats. With this obstacle surmounted, planners trained their eyes on a commercial air route to Oceania.

Upon forging an air route to Hawai’i, Pan American Airways began planning further air links to destinations in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Each of these employed the long range of large flying boats to link a chain of island bases along the way. The route to the south was planned to fly through Fiji and New Caledonia. However, the distance from Hawai’i to Fiji was over 3,000 miles, beyond the safe operating range of even Pan American’s largest aircraft. The solution was to establish a refuelling base at the remote and barren Canton Island, an atoll in the Phoenix Islands, located 1,900 miles from Hawai’i and 1,200 miles from Fiji. After refuelling on Canton Island, the aircraft flew either to Suva in Fiji or Nouméa in New Caledonia on their way south. Although Pan American Airways desired a route all the way through to Australia, negotiations between the governments and Britain’s Imperial Airways proved more difficult than anticipated. As a result, the transpacific route in the south terminated at Auckland, New Zealand. These incredibly long-range routes were surveyed using the Sikorsky S-42 flying boat and opened with the new Boeing 314 Clipper.

In the early 1940s, Pan American Airways established regular service to Auckland, New Zealand, with their Boeing 314 Clipper flying boats. Although this service was halted by the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific Ocean theatre, the war years were transformational for transpacific air travel. Not only were new and improved aircraft developed, but a network of airfields were built across the Pacific basin as part of the war effort. In the late 1940s, land-based aircraft, like the Douglas DC-4 and the larger DC-6, made regularly-operated commercial air routes between the United States and Australia a reality for airmail and cargo, and for passengers as well. Pan American was also finally able to obtain permission for their service to extend all the way to Australia. Pan American was joined in flying these routes by Australian airlines like Australian National Airways (ANA), British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) and, later, Qantas Empire Airways. The route flown was the same as that pioneered before the war, using New Caledonia, Fiji, Canton Island, and Hawai’i as stepping-stones between Australia and the west coast of the United States. This route persisted through the propeller airliner era, even as newer aircraft like the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser were introduced.

In the late 1950s, jet airliners began to enter service for airlines around the world. These new aircraft revolutionised transpacific air travel with their high speed and longer range. Pan American World Airways and Qantas favoured the Boeing 707 airliner for their long-range international routes. These planes did not need to stop as frequently and layovers in New Caledonia and Canton Island were no longer required. Regular, same-day air travel between the United States and Australia had been realised.

Today, these rare surviving airmail flight covers document how the air route across the Pacific Ocean was established during the 1920s and 30s, and then strengthened in the post-war era with the introduction of more advanced aircraft making non-stop travel between the United States and Australia a reality.

Text from the SFO Museum website

First U.S. Navy Flight Squadron VP-10, San Francisco-Honolulu airmail flight cover
January 10, 1934
Paper, ink
SFO Museum, Gift of Jon E. Krupnick

Pan American Airways, Honolulu-Canton Island airmail flight cover
September 5, 1939
Paper, ink
SFO Museum, Gift of Jon E. Krupnick

Qantas Empire Airways, First Boeing 707 Flight, Honolulu-Sydney airmail flight cover
August 1, 1959
Paper, ink
SFO Museum, Gift of Mrs. Siusiadh Rasmussen

Pan American World Airways, First Jet Clipper Air Mail, Sydney – Los Angeles airmail flight cover
December 17, 1959
Paper, ink
SFO Museum, Gift of the Captain John B. Russell Family

SFO Museum
San Francisco International Airport
P.O. Box 8097
San Francisco, CA 94128 USA
Phone: 650.821.6700

SFO Museum website

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Exhibition: ‘Japonisme: A Passion for Japan’ at SFO Museum, San Francisco international airport

Exhibition dates: 4th May, 2022 – 2nd April, 2023

Terminal 2, Departures Level 2, Gallery 2A

Dominick & Haff (American, New York) (manufacturer)
Footed dish
1880
Sterling silver, mixed metal
Private Collection

Dominick & Haff, based in New York City, produced some of the most magnificent silver objects during the late nineteenth century. The “outer” layer of this footed dish displays hexagonal hammering that appears torn away to reveal differing patterns beneath. Multi-coloured gold butterflies and foliage accent the piece.

A change of pace… time for things exquisite!

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to the SFO Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Royal Doulton (Burslem, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Plate, “Spray” pattern border
c. 1896
Earthenware with transfer print, glaze, gilding
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

Royal Doulton (Burslem, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Moon flask, “Spray” pattern
c. 1880
Earthenware with transfer print, glaze, gilding
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

This plate features hanging wisteria. A symbol of longevity (fuji, 藤), wisteria has been grown for thousands of years in Japan. The motif often appears on kimono and many forms of Japanese art. Royal Doulton, which was founded in 1815, produced this “Spray” pattern in the 1880s, likely inspired by Japanese mon (紋). Mon are decorative crests traditionally used to identify a Japanese family.

Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, Providence, Rhode Island) (manufacturer)
Set of fruit knives
c. 1875
Sterling silver, bronze, gilding
Private Collection

Small utility knives, known as kozuka (小柄), had long been highly valued craft objects in Japan where they were traditionally cast from fine metals, such as bronze. After Japan opened to international trade, craftsmen produced kozuka for Westerners who sometimes repurposed the handles to make dining knives. Eventually Japanese manufacturers began selling the handles alone, crafting them from various metals with die stamped decoration gilded in select areas. The Gorham Manufacturing Company added their own sterling silver blade designs, decorated with butterflies, fans, and geometric patterns applied to Western-style utensils, such as dessert forks and salad servers. The resulting knives resemble Japanese swords with decorated handles.

[left to right]

Josiah Wedgwood & Sons (Etruria, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Plate depicting an actor
c. 1875
Earthenware with transfer print and enamels
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

Josiah Wedgwood & Sons (Etruria, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Plate depicting a musician, “Mikado” border pattern
c. 1875
Earthenware with transfer print and enamels
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

Josiah Wedgwood & Sons

Established in the eighteenth century, Josiah Wedgwood & Sons embraced Japonisme during the late nineteenth century when English transfer-printed earthenware with complex, inventive Japanese-inspired patterns reached an apex.

[center plate]

The young man with a sword and the landscape backdrop on this plate are broadly adapted from Japanese woodblock prints of actors. A few details suggest that Wedgwood’s artist studied Japanese prints: the placement of the feet and the bend of a wrist. However, the clothing and the landscape structure are so unlike Japanese styles, they prove they were not copied from a Japanese source.

Unknown manufacturer (English)
Dinner gong with sparrow
c. 1885
brass, copper
Courtesy of Brian D. Coleman

This dinner gong exhibits faux bamboo supports and a sparrow in flight, highlighting the European maker’s interpretation of Japan’s admiration for the natural world and its influence on Western art.

French author Philippe Burty (1830-1890) coined the term Japonisme in 1872 to describe the new fervor for all things Japanese, following Japan’s opening to international trade after a prolonged period of isolation from the West. The increased visibility of Japanese art and design overseas profoundly affected European and North American audiences as ceramics, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, metalwork, lacquerware, fans, and textiles flooded Western markets. Japonisme permeated fine and decorative arts, interior design, and graphic arts. Artists such as Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) and James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) were deeply inspired by Japanese art. American silver manufacturers including Tiffany & Company and the Gorham Manufacturing Company were determined to create metalwork as fine as Japan’s. English potteries took heed of Japanese designs to create a plethora of new patterns.

The first world’s fair to feature Japanese art took place in London in 1862. Japan’s official participation in an international exposition occurred in Paris in 1867, followed by Vienna in 1873, and Philadelphia in 1876. These expositions exposed millions of people to Japanese art, craft, design, and architecture. Japanese art dealers, such as Hiromichi Shugio (1853-1927) in New York, Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940) in Boston, and Tadamasa Hayashi (1853-1906) in Paris, helped introduce Japanese arts to American and European clienteles. Prominent English designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) travelled to Japan in 1876, later publishing his influential book Japan: Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufacturers (1882). Art critics and home journals of the era regularly published articles addressing how to decorate one’s home in a Japanese-inspired style. Collectors eagerly purchased authentic Japanese goods and Western interpretations of them.

Western decorative arts manufacturers adopted Japanese motifs, such as asymmetry and imagery inspired by the natural world, including insects – from butterflies and dragonflies to black flies. The spider and its web now adorned everything from silver plate to wallpaper and framed portraits. Birds and sea creatures, such as cranes, owls, and carp were introduced as decorative motifs. Western artists looked at familiar trees and changing foliage in a new light – from cherry blossoms to autumn maple leaves, and bamboo. A variety of flowers found new meaning, including peonies, wisteria, and irises. The intriguing decorative lexicon of Japan also included ocean waves, clouds, lightning bolts, and cracked ice.

This exhibition features American and European decorative arts from the 1870s-1890s, when Japonisme reached its peak in popularity. Rather than directly copying, Western artists drew freely from Japanese ornament reinterpreting objects ranging from sterling silver flatware and holloware to colourful ceramic plates and vessels. Designs on Japanesque lamps, fire screens, and book covers are among the many everyday items that also feature imaginative imagery, all of which reflect an early and remarkable example of international cultural exchange between Japan and the West.

Text from the SFO Museum website

Dominick & Haff (American, New York) (manufacturer)
Sugar bowl
1884
Sterling silver
Private Collection

William B. Durgin Company (American, Concord, New Hampshire) (manufacturer)
Pitcher
c. 1885
Sterling silver
Private Collection

A dragonfly appears on this sugar bowl. This common Japanese decorative motif was eagerly absorbed by the West during the height of Japonisme and by the Art Nouveau movement that followed it. This unusually shaped pitcher, with chased decoration wrapping around all three sides, has a handle shaped like a segmented stalk of bamboo.

Gildea & Walker (Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England) (manufacturer)
Serving platter, “Melbourne” pattern
1881-1885
Earthenware with transfer print and enamels
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

Christopher Dresser (English, 1834-1904) (designer)
Old Hall Earthenware Company (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Pitcher
c. 1881
Earthenware with transfer print and enamels
Courtesy of Brian D. Coleman

The pattern Gildea & Walker marketed under the trade name of “Melbourne” was one of the most popular transfer-printed designs in the Japanesque style and was offered in several colours. The eclectic, asymmetrical pattern incorporates a seascape, horizon line, sparrows, bamboo, blossoms, and an owl in the moonlight.

English designer Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) traveled extensively throughout Japan in 1876-1877 as a guest of the Japanese government. He was accompanied by translators, guides, sketch artists, and photographers. Dresser visited Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and historic sites. He met artists and craftspeople at dozens of potteries and workshops focusing on metalwork, basketry, and lacquer. Upon returning, he published Japan: Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufacturers (1882), one of the first wide-ranging Western publications on Japanese arts and architecture.

[Left to right]

Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, Providence, Rhode Island) (manufacturer)
Cigar lighter
1881
Mixed metal
Private Collection

Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, Providence, Rhode Island) (manufacturer)
Coffee pot
c. 1883
Copper, silver
Private Collection

Gorham Manufacturing Company (American, Providence, Rhode Island) (manufacturer)
Tea caddy
1881
Copper, silver
Private Collection

The Gorham Manufacturing Company excelled in crafting Japanese-inspired objects of copper with silver appliqués that were hand hammered by their artisans. The small, patinated copper lighter exhibited here has a dragon handle; a spider appears on one side, while a Japanese woman and crane appear on the other side.

The Gorham Manufacturing Company began as a small silversmithing company in 1831, later becoming New England’s premier artistic silver manufacturer. John Gorham (1820-1898) and his chief designer George Wilkinson (1819-1894), who traveled to Japan in 1880, rivalled Tiffany & Company in their successful adoption of Japanese principles in the development of a wide range of wares. This eclectic Turkish-style coffee pot exhibits applied silver floral decoration on its front and a dragonfly on back.

Two flies are perched upon this tea caddy. Like the spider-and-web motif, Western artists had never thought to use flies as applied ornament before exploring Japanese art.

[Clockwise]

Christopher Dresser (English, 1834-1904) (designer, attributed to)
Minton’s China Works/Minton & Company (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Tile
c. 1870-1880
Earthenware with block printing
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

Pierre Mallet (French, 1836-1898, active in England c. 1870) (designer)
Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co. (Cauldon Place, Hanley, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Tile
c. 1880
Earthenware with transfer-printed etching and enamels
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

Sherwin & Cotton (Hanley, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Tile, “Cracked Ice” pattern
c. 1880
Earthenware with transfer prints and enamels
Courtesy of Jeffrey Ruda

This first tile shows three cranes flying above waves, with a full moon and two clouds behind them. The cranes and waves are adapted from a Japanese pot that was displayed as a “jardinière” at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. The Minton Archive holds a drawing signed by Christopher Dresser that shifts the motif on the pot to a horizontal format with three cranes flying over stylised waves, along with a cloud and full moon.

Whiting Manufacturing Company (American, New York) (manufacturer)
Seafood salad bowl, “Fish-net” pattern
1885
Sterling silver
Private Collection

Tiffany & Company (American, New York) (manufacturer)
Ice bowl
c. 1877
Sterling silver
Private Collection

The exterior of this seafood salad bowl is decorated with three different applied decorations in the form of a stylised carp caught in a net. In Japan, the carp (koi, 鯉) symbolises courage, strength, and fertility.

Tiffany & Company was America’s most distinguished artistic goods manufacturer and one of the first to adopt Japanese-influenced decoration, which was lauded as far as Europe and Japan. The company began importing Japanese works under the guidance of designer Edward C. Moore (1827-1891). Moore amassed a large collection of Japanese art, including ceramics, textiles, and metalwork that was later bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also established Tiffany’s study collection and library. Most likely, Moore commissioned Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) to assemble a collection of objects during his tour of Japan in 1876-1877.

Arabella B. Buckley (British, 1840-1929) (author)
D. Appleton and Company (American, New York) (publisher)
Life and Her Children
1893
Collection of Catherine A. Ferron and Paul T. Roberts

Unknown manufacturer (American)
Photo album
c. 1880s
Paper, ink, gilding
Anonymous lender

Thomas W. Knox (American, 1835-1896) (author)
Harper & Brothers Publishers (American, New York) (publisher)
The Boy Travellers: Japan and China
1880
Collection of Catherine A. Ferron and Paul T. Roberts

Unknown manufacturer (English)
Hand-painted fire screen
c. 1880
glass, metal, paint
Courtesy of Brian D. Coleman

During the 1870s, stores specialising in Japanese art and merchandise, commonly referred to as Japanese novelty stores or fancy goods stores, opened across the United States – from New York and Boston to Philadelphia, Houston, and San Francisco. Many of the stores were owned by Japanese entrepreneurs. Art historian and print collector Hiromichi Shugio (1853-1927), was born into a privileged family in Saga Prefecture. He arrived in New York around 1880 and became the proprietor of First Japan Manufacturing and Trading Company in New York. Shugio curated the first major American exhibition of ukiyo-e prints at the Grolier Club in New York City in 1889. Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940) came to San Francisco in 1888, soon moving to Salem, Massachusetts, where he established a Japanese section in the city’s leading department store, Almy, Bigelow & Washburn, stocking more than twenty-thousand items. Matsuki also opened a store in Boston and supplied works of art to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Tadamasa Hayashi (1853-1906) learned French in his native country of Japan before travelling to Paris in 1878 to serve as a translator at the Exposition Universelle. Hayashi decided to remain in Paris and became a highly regarded art dealer, selling ukiyo-e and other artworks to an international clientele.

Royal Worcester (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) (manufacturer)
Dragon vase
c. 1880s
Earthenware, glaze
Courtesy of Brian D. Coleman

SFO Museum
San Francisco International Airport
P.O. Box 8097
San Francisco, CA 94128 USA
Phone: 650.821.6700

SFO Museum website

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Exhibition: ‘Postwar Propliners in Miniature: Models from the Collection of Anthony J. Lawler’ at SFO Museum (SFOM), San Francisco International Airport

Exhibition dates: June 2011 – December 2011

Location: Aviation Museum and Library 1 – Front Wall Cases

Lockheed Aircraft Co., Burbank, California
American Overseas Airlines Lockheed L-049 Constellation
c. 1946
Scale 1:44
Metal, paint
Collection of Anthony J. Lawler

One of my favourite postings in a long while. As an inveterate collector how I would love to have these in my collection. What beautiful aircraft; what graceful models; what simple, gorgeous photographs by photographer Chad Michael Anderson. The Lockheed Constellation has to be one of the most delicious aircraft ever made. But the model I would take is the gorgeous Air France Breguet 763 Provence, because of it’s aerodynamic beauty and angle of flight.

Marcus

.
Many thankx to John Hill, Assistant Director, Aviation for his help and to SFO Museum for allowing me to publish the text and the photographs. Attribution for the photographs is to the SFO Museum (actual photographer unknown). Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Maarten Matthys Verkuyl (Dutch)
KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij) Royal Dutch Airlines Douglas DC-6
c. 1950
Scale 1:48
Metal, paint
Collection of Anthony J. Lawler

Shawcraft Models, Uxbridge, England
BEA Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador
1950s
Scale 1:48
Wood, metal, paint
Collection of Anthony J. Lawler

La Maquette d’Etude et d’Exposition à Aubervilliers, France
Air France Breguet 763 Provence
1950s
Scale 1:50
Wood, plastic, metal, paint
Collection of Anthony J. Lawler

Immediately following the end of World War II in 1945, airlines and passengers benefited from a surplus of inexpensive, advanced propeller-driven transport aircraft, or “propliners.” Over the next fifteen years, commercial aviation expanded rapidly as airlines persistently requested improved propliner designs to lower costs, attract new customers, and gain advantages over competitors. In meeting these demands the manufacturers of North America and Europe developed increasingly superior aircraft. These included the jet-powered turboprop airliners that flew successively faster, higher, and farther.

Making scale models of these airliners was an important part of the design, manufacturing, and marketing process during this period. Crafted by in-house model shops or independent model makers, they represented the new designs in miniature for convenient three-dimensional analysis. Accurately painted livery schemes on the models helped the airlines to imagine the new airliner operating within their fleet. Carriers also commissioned the making of models to promote their improved services in airline offices and travel agencies. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, they were usually made of sheet or cast metal and complemented with metal bases often formed into unique streamline shapes. By the late 1950s, models began to be produced from plastic, which was easier to mold into intricate shapes and reflected the proliferation of new synthetic resins.

These models represent the age of postwar propliners, which lasted until the 1960s when faster, more fuel-efficient and propeller-less turbojet airliners began to supersede them. They are from the collection of Anthony J. Lawler, an aviation industry professional and avid airplane model collector since first seeing the De Havilland Comet – the world’s first jetliner – fly over his boyhood home in Rhodesia. Mr. Lawler has spent decades assembling one of the finest collections of scale airliner display models, most of which were acquired while working as a senior sales representative for Airbus North America during the 1980s and 1990s. His collection spans a century of commercial aviation design innovation.

Text from the SFO Museum website

Raise-Up Models, Rotterdam, Netherlands
REAL (Redes Estaduais Aéreas Limitadas) Transportes Aéreos Lockheed 1049H Super Constellation
1950s
Metal, paint
Collection of Anthony J. Lawler