London Transport Museum has commissioned a new series of lively poster artworks celebrating four of London’s most iconic music venues, now on display in Underground stations across the capital.
Created by British illustrator and textile designer Esther Cox, the new series entitled Nights worth travelling for celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Night Tube and continues the long-standing tradition of commissioning contemporary artists to create posters that inspire Londoners and visitors to explore the capital’s cultural offer using public transport.
The series shines a spotlight on four renowned venues that help make London’s night-time cultural scene one of the world’s most vibrant, showcasing the many ‘nights worth travelling for’ that can be reached by Tube. The newly commissioned artworks feature St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and O2 Academy Brixton.
On Friday 30 October all four posters were unveiled on the Underground. They will remain on display for three weeks, encouraging customers to discover the diverse music, performance and cultural experiences happening across the capital after dark. Customers can find the best way to reach each venue using the TfL Go app.
Art and design lovers will have the chance to own a piece of transport history by purchasing first edition posters for £20, and smaller 30×40 artwork prints of all four designs are also available for £10 each. All versions are now on sale and can be purchased online at shop.ltmuseum.co.uk or in person from the Museum’s Covent Garden store.
The designer behind the new posters, Esther Cox, is known for her distinctive pattern-led work that combines collaging colours and textures to convey mood and feeling. Cox has previously worked with both London Transport Museum and Transport for London (TfL), creating artworks celebrating London’s riverside and the vibrant shopping district of Southall. Her latest artwork captures the excitement, colour and camaraderie of nights out in London, bringing together people, places and performances through bold and energetic designs.
Through dynamic compositions that play with scale and perspective, each poster is designed to feel like a moment of performance that the audience is caught up in. From the soaring interior of St Martin-in-the-Fields, this year marking 300 years since the completion of its iconic church building, to the vibrant stages of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, which has welcomed generations of artists and audiences for 75 years.
At Guildhall School of Music & Drama, performers share the spotlight with the production artists whose skill and creativity make each performance possible, while O2 Academy Brixton is rendered as a celebration of the collective energy, anticipation and connection that define a great live music experience. Rich, jewel-like colours inspired by stage lighting and darkened auditoriums help evoke the excitement, warmth and intimacy of nights out in London.
The new poster series continues a long tradition of putting great design at the heart of the capital’s transport network, a legacy credited to Frank Pick, the first chief executive of London Transport. The commission forms part of London Transport Museum’s Transported by Culture initiative, which brings together art, music and theatre programming to its visitors.
The newly commissioned posters will join London Transport Museum’s renowned collection of approximately 36,000 posters and artworks – one of the world’s largest collections of twentieth century graphic art and design. Visitors to London Transport Museum can see a selection of the Museum’s famous poster artworks on display in its blockbuster exhibition Art deco: the golden age of poster design, in the Global Poster Gallery.
Elizabeth McKay, Director and CEO, London Transport Museum, said: ‘I am thrilled with these new illustrated posters and how they capture the vibrancy and exuberance of London’s nightlife. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Night Tube, Esther Cox’s striking artworks capture the venues, performances and experiences that make London’s night-time cultural scene so special, encouraging people to discover the many ‘nights worth travelling for’ across the city. In addition to delighting the travelling public, these wonderful posters of nocturnal city life will make the perfect gift for lovers of design and London.’
Esther Cox, poster artist, said: ‘It is always a pleasure to be asked to create artwork for London Transport Museum’s Underground posters. Being part of the long lineage of poster art represented in the Museum’s collection is a real honour. I hope these artworks bring colour and joy to London travellers and encourage them to explore this ever-vibrant city.’
