Classic posters of the last century

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Veronica Davies looks at two books on 20th-century posters with very different subject matter

The enthusiasm for, and interest in, books about 20th-century posters continues unabated, as these two recent volumes demonstrate in their different ways.  This is surely a testament to posters’ broad appeal, which has as much to do with their value as historical documents as to the way they provide a record of the work of some of the best artists and graphic designers of their day, and how this has contributed to the visual culture of everyday life throughout the century.

British Aviation Posters draws on the poster collection of British Airways, which on the evidence of the material in this book, is a rich archival resource.  It traces chronologically the various bodies that have ‘flown the flag’ of British civil aviation, starting with Imperial Airways in the 1920s.  The writers explain that their account of poster design ends in the 1960s, when, they argue, new advertising media meant that ‘design standards fell [and] the narrative changed’.  Right from the start, the huge variety of poster designs is emphasized, ranging from the striking Futurist-inspired ‘Speedbird’ image of ‘To Germany before Lunch’ to one that uses a detailed cutaway technique to show the layout of the inside of a British Empire Flying Boat (both from the mid-1930s).  Many of the plates are full-page, and are supplemented by fascinating contemporary photographs, such as signed souvenir postcards of Imperial Airways pilots from the 1920s, or a picture of BOAC stewardesses learning make-up skills in the 1960s.

The book is organized into two principal sections, ‘Taking to the air: From pioneers to Imperial’ by Green and ‘Queen and Comet: Art and aviation in the new Elizabethan age’ by Anthony, with a short chapter by Green, ‘Conflict and a changing world’, covering the 1940s.  All sections combine impressive historical research with detail of the techniques used by artists and designers to create the required visual impact to sell the newest mode of passenger transport to customers.  So, for example, we see Ben Nicholson incorporating the ‘Speedbird’ symbol into a modernist design, ‘Faster empire air services’ (c.1935), akin to the abstract art he was also producing at the time.  Part of Anthony’s ‘Queen and Comet’ section is devoted to ‘Abram Games and the Festival of Britain’, celebrating ‘the most extraordinary individual artist involved in the creation of BOAC’s post-war image ... inextricably associated with the brightest ambitions of post-war Britain’.

Games is equally ‘inextricably associated’ with the richness of poster production in Britain during the Second World War, and it is only fitting that Susannah Walker, in Home Front Posters, should also praise this ‘remarkable man [who] produced some of the most innovative and famous posters of the war’, such as ‘Your Britain: fight for it now’.  As Walker points out, some of these posters by Games and many others ‘have become defining images of the times’, but a strength of her writing is that she has maintained a critical and nuanced stance in researching this material, and avoids the myth-making associated with the recent ‘Keep calm and carry on’ boom.

 As well as contributing to the ever-fascinating history of the activities of the wartime Ministry of Information, Walker compares MoI poster production with that of other public bodies with messages to impart, such as the GPO (‘Post your letters before noon’), National Savings (‘Don’t take the Squander Bug with you when you go shopping’) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, whose poster campaigns, largely designed by Tom Eckersley, were effective in reducing accidents in a workforce of ‘new and inexperienced recruits’.  This is a well-produced book that includes plenty of visual material in a small space without appearing cramped, and whose accompanying text is a thoughtful and effective essay to complement this.

British Aviation Posters: Art, Design and Flight  by Scott Anthony & Oliver Green is published by Lund Humphries in association with British Airways 2012. 200 pp., fully illustrated in colour and mono, £35. ISBN 978 1 84822 084 3

Home Front Posters of the Second World War  by Susannah Walker is published by Shire Publications 2012. 48 pp., fully illustrated in colour, £6.99. ISBN 978 0 74781 142 8