Underground success story
EXHIBITION
POSTER ART 150
London Transport Museum
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In this excellent new exhibition at the London Transport Museum, 150 posters have been selected from a collection of more than 3,300. Not only are the posters striking pieces of art, they also offer a unique insight into the history of the transport system that most of us use every day.
The posters record the early history of the tube before the network was unified under a single brand: the Underground. It also documents the transformation of villages into suburbs. Many of the early posters call for people to have “countryside excursions” in places like Golder’s Green and Hampstead.
Some of the designs will be familiar, such as Man Ray’s Keeps London Going and the poster campaign for the expansion of the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow. However, it’s the early ones, with their snapshots of an unrecognisable London, that are really special. An excellent way to mark the 150th anniversary of the tube.