Vintage Travel Posters

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Since the 19th century, travel and transportation companies—including airlines, hotels, railroads, and tourism bureaus—have all used colorful posters to entice new customers. Today, these vintage travel posters are sought by a variety of...
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Since the 19th century, travel and transportation companies—including airlines, hotels, railroads, and tourism bureaus—have all used colorful posters to entice new customers. Today, these vintage travel posters are sought by a variety of collectors, whether they are into aviation and railroadiana, particular locations, or specific commercial artists. Early railway advertisements typically incorporated prices, timetables, and routes into their posters depicting of attractive scenery from promoted destinations. By the turn of the 20th century, designers like Hugo d’Alesi, Emile Cardinaux, and Adolfo Hohenstein had begun creating distinctive travel posters with less text and more provocative imagery. From the 1920s and beyond, artists including A. M. Cassandre, Roger Broders, Tom Purvis, Fred Taylor, and David Klein adopted the clean lines of Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern to appeal to younger, hipper travelers. Aviation-themed travel posters actually came before there were airlines—the first date to the mid-19th century, when promoters touted exhibitions of aeronautical feats by balloonists. Early in the 20th century, aviation posters heralded the introduction of new planes at air shows and exhibitions, and during the 1930s, they helped introduce the first commercial airlines. However, for long distances, luxurious cruise ships continued to be the mode of choice for most international travelers up through the mid-20th century. For example, the launch of the S.S. Normandie in 1935 set a new bar for elegant transatlantic trips, one which the airlines simply couldn’t match. Following World War II, American affluence and ingenuity helped commercial air travel enter its heyday. During the 1950s and ’60s, vintage airline posters focused on promoting the comfort and excitement of flying, as well as the destinations, rather than the airplanes themselves. Among the most favored vintage travel posters today are those marketing defunct railways or air carriers....
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