A sideboard table attributed to the shop of Henry Cliffton and Thomas Carteret, Philadelphia, circa 1755. The table retains its original slab top, which appears by color and complex figuring to be from a quarry on the eastern side of the Shuylkill River. Photo by Gavin Ashworth.
NEW YORK CITY – For more than a century, the railroad dominated popular travel. American railroad posters, with their vivid colors, powerful imagery and catchy slogans, skillfully promoted the thrill of . Adventure, the allure of exotic faraway places and exciting destinations, dramatic mountain vistas, sumptuous dining and comfortable sleeping berths graphically rendered in big, bold strokes helped make train travel practically irresistible.
From February 17 through June 22, at its Gallery Annex in Grand Central Terminal, the New York Transit Museum will present a collection of these posters in an exhibition, “: The American Railroad Poster, 1870-1950.”
The exhibition includes examples of posters produced by the New York Central System, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New Haven Railroad and the Santa Fe Railroad, among others. Vintage model trains from the museum’s Lawrence Scripps Wilkinson Collection, representative of many of the railroads depicted in the posters, will also be on display.
The As competing railroads fought to position and “brand” their product within an increasingly competitive industry, a diverse and visually powerful array of images emerged from the pens of their designers. Locomotives soared across the sky, Native Americans performed ancient rituals and streamliners pierced shimmering landscapes. An astonishing body of work, the American railroad poster documents an adventurous, imaginative era in American travel.
“: The American Railroad Poster, 1870-1950” was organized by the New York Transit Museum and Michael E. Zega, co-author of : The American Railroad Poster, 1870-1950 (Bloomington Indiana University Press), 2002.
For information, 212-878-0106 or www.mta.info.
