Poster Art 150: And the Winner is…
Brightest London is best reached by Underground, Horace
Taylor, 1924 |
Brightest London is best reached by Underground, Horace
Taylor, 1924
The winning poster was created when cinemas still showed
black and white films; vibrant posters like this splashed colour into 1920s
London. The Underground is presented as bright, popular and extremely
fashionable with a very smart crowd heading out for a night on the town. Still
vibrant almost 90 years after it first brightened Underground stations, it is
easy to imagine how effective it must have been at the time. The artist’s
granddaughter once explained that Taylor often liked to paint himself into his
posters. In this one he is the gentleman with the top hat and the beard on the
middle escalator.
The Poster Art 150 exhibition opened on 15 February 2013 and
was due to close in October but was extended until 5 January 2014 due to
popular demand. It formed part of the 150th anniversary of the London
Underground celebrations and featured posters by many famous artists including
Edward McKnight Kauffer, Man Ray and Paul Nash, and designs from each decade
over the last 100 years. Information about some of the posters featured in the
exhibition can be found on this blog.
The posters were selected from the Museum’s archive of over
3,300 Underground posters by a panel of experts; the 150 that appeared in the
exhibition show the range and depth of the Museum’s collection.
Director of London Transport Museum, Sam Mullins, said “The
number of votes for Brightest London is impressive given the public had a large
selection from which to choose. We’re
delighted that so many people participated in the Siemens Poster Vote which
reinforces the view that our poster collection is one of the best loved
collections of graphic art in the world.”
Siemens Rail Systems UK Managing Director, Steve Scrimshaw,
said “We were proud to be part of the 150th anniversary of London Underground,
and have been delighted by the success of the Siemens Poster Vote, it has
really captured people’s imaginations.
It is fascinating to see how design has changed over the last 150 years
– we have many engineers who are passionate about design, maybe Poster Art 150
has given them some new ideas!”
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| London Zoo, Abram Games, 1976 © Estate of Abram Games |
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| Underground – the way for all, Alfred France, 1911 |
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