Visitors to London Transport Museum’s new exhibition Art deco: the golden age of poster design are now able to explore how art deco, a revolutionary visual arts, design and architecture style, influenced its iconic transport posters. Housed in the Global Poster Gallery, the new temporary exhibition is now open in the heart of Covent Garden.
This year marks the centenary of art deco style, originally known as ‘Moderne’ or ‘Style Moderne’. Following in the wake of Art Nouveau and coinciding with the growth of modernism, this design style flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, following the pivotal Paris Exhibition of 1925.
In Britain, Frank Pick, the visionary Chief Executive of London Transport (LT), was the individual most responsible for advancing this form of graphic style. Pick masterminded the publicity for the Underground and LT from 1908 onwards and had a passionate commitment to good design. His visionary approach brought modern art to a much wider public than would ever have visited a traditional gallery.
Across the 1920s and 1930s, the Underground and LT commissioned a large number of art deco style posters to promote the transport network and encourage people to use its services. These striking designs once adorned the walls of London’s Underground and the wider network, enticing passengers to explore the city’s leisure hotspots, shop the latest fashions, and embrace the thrill of modern travel.
Art deco style worked well with graphic art and coincided with a period when pictorial posters were one of the main forms of mass communication. This new style was characterised by a sleek stylised form, simplicity of line, geometric patterns, abstract shapes and sweeping curves – perfect for modern poster design on public transport.
The new exhibition Art deco: the golden age of poster design takes the visitor on a journey that starts with the origins of art deco, moves on to posters that capture the world of leisure and pleasure and then explores deco architecture. This includes the work of architect Charles Holden, who helped change the face of London with his remarkable new Tube station commissions.
Design fans, history lovers and transport enthusiasts will be amazed by an array of beautiful vintage posters of gleaming ocean liners, stylish 1930s bathers, period photographs, Clarice Cliff pottery and loans from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), which include a Japanese Government Railway poster by one of the masters of graphic design, Munetsugu Satomi.
Rarely seen posters
A number of posters that have never been on public display feature in the exhibition, including the selection immediately below.
Leisure, pleasure and the jazz age
Viewers are invited to ‘take a trip’ through transport posters that focus on the destination rather than the mode of travel. An outing to the zoo, countryside, seaside or sporting event was all within easy reach. The attractive stylised movement and colour of the art deco style provided a natural fit for waterside activities.
The glamour of the jazz age is illustrated in the posters by depicting new clothing and fashions to promote travel to the shops and evening entertainment. Beautiful and decadent objects such as a delicate fan from 1926 on loan from Brighton Museum and an enamelled silver lacquer and eggshell cigarette case from 1929 on loan from the V&A Museum help to bring the era alive.
In the 1920s the female ankle was suddenly on display and shoes that showed them at their best were a must-have for every elegant lady. C&J Clarks commissioned modern artists and designers to produce showcards advertising their products, with some of these striking advertising assets, borrowed from the Shoemakers Museum, on display.
Gold bar shoes decorated with diamantes and gold embroidery, on loan from the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, convey a feeling of 1920s luxury and are sure to delight.
