Opening today, Art deco: the golden age of poster design is a glorious celebration of poster art, with more than 100 original posters from London Transport Museum’s collection on display.
The exhibition celebrates the centenary of the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, an event widely credited with popularising the style.
During the 1920s and 1930s the Underground Group’s posters reached such a peak of stylistic quality that the art critic of The Times gushed:
…there can be no doubt at all that the credit for the earliest consistent use of good posters of any kind belongs to the Underground’.
Exhibition curator Georgia Morley told the BBC:
“A lot of the things these posters are advertising we still want to do in London today – going to the theatre, shopping, going to the zoo, or the riverside – they’re still really exciting.”
Historian Dr Emma Bastin added:
The art is 100 years old now but it still feels modern… they have an aspirational feel to them, so we can relate to these artworks, we can dream that we want to be in some of them.
I think a lot of it’s down to the dreamlike vision these posters show and the art shows.
It allows you to imagine yourself in another world and they still look like they could have been produced today so that’s why people still love to put them on their walls.
That said, ‘GO TO SOUTHEND’ almost comes over as a threat.
Here’s some more photos of what’s on offer:
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Art deco: the golden age of poster design
London Transport Museum
Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB.
The nearest stations to London Transport Museum are:
- Underground: Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Charing Cross, Embankment, Holborn
- National Rail: Charing Cross and Waterloo
- Boat: Embankment or Westminster pier
- Bus: Strand or Aldwych
Tickets for London Transport Museum:
- Buy tickets here
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