The exhibition "Poster Girls - A Century of Art and
Design" was
shown at the London Transport Museum
in 2017. The focus was poster artworks by female designers from the 1900s until
the present day, celebrating the forgotten design heroines behind some of the
UK's most memorable posters.
Transport for London
(TFL) estimates that, since 1910, over 170 women have been commissioned to
design posters for the city's various public transport campaigns. The designs
come in a mixture of modernist, flat colour, bold patterns, abstraction,
collage and oil paintings, promoting everything from London Zoo to the variety
of characters one can find on the Tube (London’s Underground Railway system)
The 130-strong
poster collection showcases an array of famous artists and designers, including
Mabel Lucie Attwell, Laura Knight, Enid Marx and Zandra Rhodes. Their work sits
alongside lesser known figures and a handful of women whose names were subsumed
by the advertising agencies they worked for.
Here is a selection
of some of the works that were on display:
(Credits: London
Transport Museum and TheCulturetrip.com)
Derby Day by Heather Perry
Doris Zinkeisen: It was during the 1930s that Doris Zinkeisen produced a range of posters for the mainline railway companies. Historical themes was her forte, although this image was printed, it wasn't issued due to the outbreak of war in 1939.
Dora Batty uses a foxglove to convey Kew Garden's beauty in this poster. This image was featured in the Design and Industries Association's yearbook in 1924 as an example of high quality modern design and effective advertising.
Louisa St. Pierre names Peter Blake, Byzantine icons and Gustav Klimt as some of the inspirations behind her work.
Laura Knight: A masculine subject informing rugby fans of the tram links available for a match. This was the first of many posters Knight would design for London Transport.
Mary Koop conceived this poster design to encourage commuters to the Summer Sales in London.
I'm listening to the duettino Sull'aria' from The Marriage of Figaro. So beautiful!
8 comments:
Hello Bazza, The quality of design and printing in these (and other) posters is amazing, especially considering their ephemeral nature. When I was in college, I used to print ads, programs, and so forth for various small events and recitals, but I always worked hard to make them perfect.
--Jim
p.s. If you like Sull'aria, try the classic Marcella Sembrich and Emma Eames version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgzuRbtZptY
A traditional painting on canvas was seen by the artist's wife and children, and perhaps 10 other people, unless it was hang on the wall of a famous gallery, or printed in university text books. But posters were seen by millions of people in railway stations, shop windows and lamp posts. Laura Knight could do both... very well!
Jim: I have books of London Transports posters and they are a joy to look at. My favourite one advertises trips by bus to Epping Forest near where I live.
I'm listening to Marcella Sembrich and Emma Eames as I type. Your link was 'unavailable' but I managed to find it through another You Tube source. Such a nostalgic feel! It sounds like a cylinder recording...Thanks for that.
Hels: That's a really interesting point re, the audience for a work of art. I wonder if you are familiar with Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction(1935) by Walter Benjamin, a fascinating essay on that topic? (I would be surprised if you aren't!)
All of these posters are fantastic! To put it into better context, if more than 170 females designed those posters over the years, approximately how many men designed them? (I want to know how astonished I should be by that sizable number of women...)
Susan: Good question! I don't know the answer. But this exhibition specifically wanted to raise the awareness of just how many of the artists were women - possibly a majority.
Hi Bazza - it is fascinating and I love those early posters ... particularly the ones representing our travel lines. The art of the tube really did produce some memorable artistic changes. It's good to know that women were coming to the fore ...
Thanks for the link to Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1935) that I'll try and remember to take a look at - cheers Hilary
Hilary: I really enjoy poster art - from either gender! However this exhibition did try to redress the balance.
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