Ocean Liner Posters tells the story of shipping companies and their ships through the art they produced - their posters. For a century, ocean liners were the only way to travel from one continent to another. Millions of passengers travelled on transatlantic routes: millionaires, occupying luxurious suites with dream decors, signed by the best artists of the time, and emigrants in search of a future, meagre savings in hand, huddled in third class - all sharing their journeys with tourists, soldiers and traders on the largest form of transportation ever built.
This book charts the evolution of ocean liner posters from the first ship poster reproductions of the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the vessel's image appeared alongside information about the routes taken, through the Art Nouveau era, when the image of the ship began to take a key role in terms of visual importance. The Art Deco period allowed masters of poster art such as Adolphe Mouron Cassandre to create enduring works for the likes of Normandie or the Atlantique. The book continues tracing the timeline of these posters, through the postwar period until the demise of transatlantic routes, through to the sixties, which saw the poster being modernised.
Contents:
The Second Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Birth of Maritime Companies
The Beginning of the Twentieth Century: The Early Giants of the Sea
The Twenties: The Rebirth of Maritime Transport
The Thirties: The Great Age of Ocean Liners
From the Post-War Era to the Sixties: The Decline and End
Gabriele Cadringher was born in Varese, Italy. During some years spent in the port city of Genoa, Gabriele discovered the magnificent ocean liners voyaging from Europe to America, actually near the end of the era of the large ships which had been, for many years, the only way to cross the seas and the oceans from one continent to another. A passion was born! He started to collect and restore memorabilia and furniture from the main ocean liners (Normandie, Queen Mary, Ile de France, Berengaria, etc) and put together one of the largest collection of original posters from the maritime companies. This book has allowed Gabriele to share these great images, and spread knowledge and awareness of the significance of this unique era, complete with its art and memorabilia.
Anne Massey is professor of Design History at Kingston University and Deputy Director of the Modern Interiors Research Centre. She is co-editor of Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture and has published widely on the subject of interior design. Her books include Interior Design since 1900, Designing Liners: Interior Design Afloat and Chair. Television appearances include BBC4's Glamour's Golden Age and Channel 4's Titanic: The Mission.
