Travel by train : the American railroad poster, 1870-1950 / Michael E. Zega and John E. Gruber.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zega, Michael E., 1955-

Contributor:

Gruber, John E., 1936-2018.

Rupp Collection (Athenaeum of Philadelphia)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Railroads--Posters.

Railroads.

Posters, American--19th century.

Posters, American.

Posters, American--20th century.

Genre:

Posters.

Physical Description:

xi, 140 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2002]

Summary:

"America's railroads produced a body of poster work significant both for the artists involved and for the range of images created. The railroads used the poster medium from their founding. Early posters took the form of broadsides dominated by text and intended to convey practical information. Then, during the 1890s, as the European lithographed display poster began to influence American advertisers and artists, this vivid new medium was adopted. For the next fifty years American railroads produced posters designed to spur the popular imagination and thereby induce travel. Artists such as Adolph Treidler, Maurice Logan, Sascha Maurer, and Leslie Ragan designed images of intensity, depicting exotic destinations, dramatic architecture, featured trains, and travel comfort." "Although a great deal has been written about European railway and travel posters, their American counterparts have remained obscure. Travel by Train focuses on the artists, railroad men, and advertising agencies that created and produced the work. It presents the work in the context of the historical trends and competitive strategies that shaped the development of the railroad industry. It also follows the development of the advertising business and graphic design in the United States and Europe. It features 164 poster images, personal photographs, and sketches, many of them never before published."-- Book jacket

Contents:

Before 1900. Early poster antecedents ; The rise of competition ; The lure of the place ; 1890s: "Reason why" advertising ; The lithographed display poster ; Oscar Binner's gigantic images.

1900-1909. Advertising revolution ; 1900: urban display windows ; Design in the new century ; Car cards.

The teens. Emerging corporate imagery ; The power of the symbol: Louis Treviso's Santa Fe posters.

The 1920s. Railroad advertising transformed ; Santa Fe and Sam Hyde Harris ; Southern Pacific and Maurice Logan ; Back East: the New Haven begins ; New York Central's art posters ; Hernando G. Villa and the Santa Fe Chief ; The Canadian Pacific and others.

The 1930s. Depression-era innovation ; Leslie Raga ; Snow trains ; The streamliner image ; The Southern Pacific studio ; Sascha Maurer: the appeal of the machine ; Ragan's streamliners.

Notes:

Maps of the routes of the railroads on lining pages.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 133-135) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Rupp collection.

ISBN:

0253341523