Object of the Day: A Print of Buckingham Palace, 1935

Buckingham Palace From the Mall
Barnett Freedman, 1935
For the Orient Line
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This handsome print was created as one of six menu cards illustrating famous London landmarks. The menus were specially designed for the Orient Line by Barnett Freedman in 1935. This image of Buckingham Palace is signed and dated “Barnett Freedman 35.”

What I like best about this print is the detail in the little abstract flourishes at the two corners which reinforce the shape of the print. It’s just so incredibly 1930’s and fits the mental picture we all have of the sleek, elegant trains of the Orient Line. Can’t you picture this menu involved in the plot of an Agatha Christie book?