Who designed your favourite travel poster?

Meet The Artists Behind Your Favourite Vintage Travel Posters

In my late teens, I bought myself a calendar that was illustrated with vintage travel posters. I was particularly smitten with one for Cuba produced in 1949 by the Cuban Tourist Commission. From that moment I formed a slight obsession with the beautiful artwork created to sell travel in the early days of advertising.

Since becoming a graphic designer I’ve found myself asking “who are the artists behind these fabulous vintage travel poster designs? What was their process? Did they travel to all the places they illustrated?” So, I did a little research into these advertising industry pioneers and this is what I found.

Table of contents

19th-century, 20th-century, joseph binder, donald brun, fred ludekens, abram games, frank newbould, david klein, maurice laban, jan lewitt & george him, harry rogers, james northfield, bernard villemot, edmond maurus, albert solon, frank soltesz, vincent guerra, albert victor eugène brenet, joseph feher, vittorio grassi, otto nielsen, lucien boucher, robert falcucci, georges dorival, roger broders, harry stevens, daphne padden, percy padden, tom eckersley, reginald montague lander, a brief history of the travel poster.

Modern posters were born in the mid-nineteenth century when a few planets aligned. The first was the development of printing technology, which allowed for mass production of colour images (“mass” being a relative term to today’s standards). The second was countries such as France lifting government censorship of public places. Lastly, mass-produced consumer goods were being advertised in populated urban environments.

By the late-nineteenth century, posters had hit their stride in Europe with many fine artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , taking up poster commissions. As the new century dawned, posters grew in popularity and their design became an increasingly respected art form.

The Art of Vintage Travel Posters

Early twentieth-century travel posters were often commissioned by railways, and later airlines. They advertised their mode of transport using images of exotic destinations. Poster artwork varied in style as fashions came and went: art nouveau, art deco and modernism were key styles of the travel poster era. Finally, poster art gave way to photography in the 1960s, as printing technology underwent another evolution.

The art of vintage posters has experienced a renaissance in the last three decades, as new generations rediscover the illustrations and paintings of the past. Original travel posters are now highly collectible items. In 2014, Christie’s sold Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge lithograph  for £314,500, its highest-grossing travel poster in history. I grew up with this image printed on a set of coasters that my mum purchased while travelling in France.

For those who aren’t millionaires, don’t worry. Prints of vintage posters can also be purchased at much more reasonable prices.

The artists behind the posters

Allow me to introduce to you the mysterious talents behind the vintage travel posters you love. This is by no means a definitive list and there are many artists unaccounted for – these are artists behind some of the most recognisable and collectible travel artworks. Sadly, most artists were employed or contracted by the marketing departments of tourism boards, railways and airlines. Therefore their individual contributions went uncredited and there is very little information available about them.

Joseph Binder (1898–1972) trained in lithography and studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts before establishing his own graphic design studio, Vienna Graphics, specialising in advertising and poster design. After visiting the US as a guest lecturer at the Chicago Art Institute and Minneapolis School of Art, he immigrated to New York in 1936. He created modernist masterpieces for American Railroads, American Airlines, and United Airlines such as these.

tourist history poster

Swiss illustrator Donald Brun (1909-1999) was a student of one of Switzerland’s first professional calligraphic artists. He apprenticed as a publicity illustrator and took art classes in Basel and Berlin before becoming a freelance artist. Brun created posters for Swissair among others. Though he never stuck to one particular style, my personal favourites are the “picture-in-picture” posters he designed, like those below.

tourist history poster

Californian illustrator Stan Galli (1912-2009) may have created your favourite 1950’s poster for United Airlines. Galli studied at the California Art Institute (now the San Francisco Art Institute) before becoming an advertising artist. He worked in various areas from designing postage stamps to Navy instructional manuals over the course of his long career. His posters for United Airlines are among the most collected vintage travel posters today.

tourist history poster

Fred Ludekens (1900-1982), was an American artist and illustrator. The Californian had no formal training and worked initially as a billboard painter. Ludekens produced work for magazines and other media. He worked alongside the aforementioned Stan Galli at one time, painting wildlife images for Weyerhauser Timber advertisements. Ludekens created a series of posters for American and United Airlines in the 1950s.

tourist history poster

British born designer Abram Games was one of the last of the great poster designers, as the art was lost to offset printing and photography. His early work was often for London Transport and Shell.  After a stint in the British War Office during World War II, Games returned to posters for British Airways, Aer Lingus and EL AL.

tourist history poster

British artist Frank Newbould (1887-1951) attended the Bradford College of Art and Camberwell School of Art. He designed many posters for railways and shipping companies, before WWII at which time he became assistant to Abram Games (above) at the war office. Frank Newbould along with the artists, Tom Purvis (below), Austin Cooper, Fred Taylor, Frank Mason were the “Big 5” that for a time were exclusively contracted to design travel posters for LNER (London and Northeastern Railway).

tourist history poster

British artist Tom Purvis (1888-1959), attended the Camberwell School of Art. He worked in advertising agency Mather and Crowther before branching out on his own as a freelancer. Between 1923 and 1945 he created over 100 posters for London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), depicting the rail lines destinations in bold, flat colour with little detail. Though Purvis moved away from this style later, reintroducing some detail into his imagery, that vibrant, minimalist style is one of my absolute favourites.

tourist history poster

David Klein (1918-2005) created boldly coloured modernist posters. The Texas native studied at the Art Center School (also known as the Art Center College of Design) in Los Angeles. He created illustrations for the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII, then went to live and work in New York City. He created most of his travel-related work between the mid-1950s and ’60s. Klein’s commercial art includes these memorable commissions for TWA.

tourist history poster

British freelance illustrator Maurice Laban (1912-1970) created posters during the 1940s through to their dying moments in the 1960s. His vibrant posters for BOAC/Qantas were printed by silkscreen technique and made use of fluorescent opaque inks.

tourist history poster

The graphic design duo of Jan Lewitt (1907-1991) and George Him (1900-192) came out of the early ’30s in Warsaw. They relocated to London and worked together through to 1955.

tourist history poster

Harry Rogers (1929-2012) was an Australian designer who created several series of Qantas posters from the 1950s through 1970s, utilizing techniques such as paper cutting, collage and watercolour to define each campaign.

tourist history poster

Another Australian, James Northfield (1887-1973), was educated in Melbourne. As a commercial artist, Northfield created posters for the Australian National Travel Association to promote Australian destinations to domestic and overseas audiences.

tourist history poster

French graphic designer Bernard Villemot (1911-1989) is associated with his work for Air France, Bally, Perrier and Orangina. Villemot initially studied with master art deco poster artist Paul Colin.  His work has been in high demand since his death in 1989.

tourist history poster

Edmond Maurus designed art deco posters for French airlines Air Union and Air France between 1925 and 1955. The French artist studied at the Germain Pilon School.

tourist history poster

Albert Solon (1897-1973) was also known for his art deco posters. The self-taught artist who became a cartoonist, created posters for airlines during the 1920s and ’30s including Farman, SABENA, Air France, Luft Hansa, Imperial Airways, KLM and l’Aéropostale.

tourist history poster

American artist Frank Soltesz (1912-1986) studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and went into newspapers and advertising. The president of TWA in 1945, Jack Frye, offered Soltesz a job creating magazine advertisements which were seen in publications such as Life, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Fortune and Time.

tourist history poster

French painter Vincent Guerra is largely a mystery, but his work for Air France and Aerovias Guest after WWII are notable contributions to poster design.

tourist history poster

Albert Victor Eugène Brenet (1903-2005), who was born in France and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He travelled for magazine LÍllustration and was appointed official artist for the three French military branches during WWII. Post-war he went into commercial illustration including advertising posters for airlines.

tourist history poster

Joseph Feher (1908-1987), a Hungarian born and trained artist, studied at the Academy Bella Arte in Florence, Italy and Bauhaus, Germany. He also obtained a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1920s. From there, his work in commercial art and portraiture began. Feher taught in Chicago and at the Academy of Arts in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was also flown around the continental United States by United Airlines, to paint watercolours of cities for ads and calendars until about 1949.

tourist history poster

Italian painter Vittorio Grassi (1878-1958) started out at the Bank of Italy, testing typographic techniques as a means of counterfeit prevention, while he practised his landscape painting. He later moved into commercial work, designing stamps and posters for the Italian Government Tourist Board and the Italian Railroad System among other public agencies.

tourist history poster

Otto Nielsen is the Danish painter who designed travel posters for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) between 1954 and 1976 in his unique oil painting style.

tourist history poster

Parisian born artist Jean Even (1910-1986) studied at the Ecole Boulle and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Even favoured gouache for its matt colours, speedy drying and compatibility with light paper, all qualities excellent for travel.

tourist history poster

Another Air France favourite is Lucien Boucher (1889-1971), whose design career began at the Ceramique de Sevres. He debuted a the Salon d’Automne in 1921 before becoming a member two years later. He exhibited at the Salon de L’Araignée in 1924 through 190. Boucher produced lithographs, wood engravings and watercolour drawings. In 1935 he began working for Air France and gained a reputation for his planispheres – a flat representation of the earth.

tourist history poster

Robert Falcucci (1900-1989), was a French illustrator and painter who studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. Falcucci spent time directing magazine advertisements for Renault; illustrated a cover of L-Illustration magazine; and worked with couturier Paul Poiret. Arguably, his best-known work his program artwork for the Monte Carlo Rally, and posters for rail line Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean (PLM).

tourist history poster

Georges “Géo” Dorival (1879-1968) was a French poster artist who also specialised in glass plates and shadow puppet theatre. He studied at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris. His best-known travel work includes posters for destinations such as Venice, Cote d’Azur, Mont Blanc, Heyeres and Brittany, as well as the railroads such as the Chemins de Fer de l’Etat.

tourist history poster

Parisian born, Roger Broders, was best known for his travel posters of fashionable French resorts of the 1920s and ’30s. Broders created simplified imagery with bold, flat fields of colour and minimal lettering in contemporary typefaces of their time. The artist was commissioned by The Paris Lyon Mediteranée Company (PLM), who sponsored his travel so that he could visit the destinations he was to illustrate. He was said to have been a cigar aficionado, foodie and lover of cafe culture – aside from the cigars, he sounds like my kind of man!

tourist history poster

Kurt Wirth (1917-1996) was a Swiss graphic designer and illustrator. He started his own studio in 1937 and was a co-founder of the Swiss Graphic Designers Association. Wirth is known for creating modernist posters for Swissair and Swiss Federal Railways. He also taught at the School of Art of Bern.

tourist history poster

Born in Manchester, England in 1919, Harry Stevens started his design career with no formal art training. He designed posters for London Transport from 1960-1978 and various other high-profile clients. He won the Council of Industrial Design Poster Award in 1963 and became a fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists.

tourist history poster

Another British artist who created popular mid-century travel posters was Daphne Padden (1927-2009). The daughter of Percy Padden, a travel poster artist of the 1920s and 30s, Daphne worked as a commercial designer before moving into fine art later in her career. She studied at Epsom & Ewell School of Art and earned a National Diploma in Design for painting. Daphne’s freelance clients included the British Transport Commission, P&O Orient Lines and British European Airways.

tourist history poster

Now seems a good time to mention more of Daphne’s dad, Percy (1885-1965) . There doesn’t seem to be much information about Mr Padden. What we do know is that he studied at the Royal College of Art and mostly worked for the post office, producing posters advertising cruises on mail boats. 

tourist history poster

Lancashire-born in 1914, Tom Eckersley, was commissioned by Transport for London, National Savings Bank, Guinness and Gillette among other big names. He studied at the Salford School of Art, where he met student Eric Lombers. Graduating in 1934, Eckersley began a freelance graphic design career in London, in partnership with Lombers. They soon won commissions by London Transport and within a few years were both lecturing at the Westminster School of Art.

Eckersley’s career was interrupted by WWII when he enlisted in the R.A.F. and worked as a cartographer. He also produced “war effort” posters during this time. After the war, he continued to teach and take commissions for poster designs. Eckersley became a fellow of the Society of Typographic Designers and Society of Artists and Designers, along with an honorary fellow of Manchester College of Art & Design and the Royal Colleg of Art.

tourist history poster

Born in London in 1913, Lander received his art education at Hammersmith School of Art. He became the chief designer and studio manager at Ralph Mott Studio during the 1930s. Lander produced posters for GWR, LNER, British Railways and the Post Office. He worked in gouache and watercolour.

tourist history poster

Image via Original Railway Posters

tourist history poster

Image via invaluable.com

Where to buy posters and prints

Galerie 123 , Switzerland

Affiche Passion , France

The Ross Art Group , USA (New York)

The Vintage Poster , USA (California)

International Poster Gallery , USA (Boston)

Antikbar , UK

All Posters

Vintagraph, USA

Printism , Australia

What is your favourite vintage travel poster? Drop a comment below and let me know.

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting acquainted with the artists that inspired travellers of yesteryear and found a little duende of your own. If so, you might also enjoy this artful history of travel postcards .

Peace, love & inspiring travel,

Know Before You Go: Hadrian’s Wall Walk

My favourite is my 1950 karnten Austria by an artist called Ludwig depicting a view of a beautiful lake from a hotel . It has such vibrant colours and gives you a sense that you are actually there. For a poster toned that takes great skill . But now I’m thinking about my other posters and it’s like having children do you have a favourite hahaha. Thanks for your time to write about the artists and posters. I still have a few I am trying to find out about.

Hi David, Your Karnten poster sounds wonderful. It can be challenging to find info about the poster artists. It’s a shame considering how talented they were! I am always updating my posts so if you have an artist you’d like me to look into, let me know. I can’t promise I’ll turn up anything you haven’t already, but I would be willing to have a go.

Thanks for stopping by Duende, Zoë (aka Madam ZoZo)

Hi there. Love the site. I wondered if you could help me? I love a poster for Continenral Airways advertising Los Angeles which has a glamorous couple on the beach- the lady has golden hair in the style of a Hollywood star and there is a plane flying overhead.. It looks late ’50s to me. Would you know who the artist would be? My email address is xxx. Thanks Paul Moody

That is a tricky one. I haven’t been able to get much info at all on that particular poster. I agree it looks like the late ’50s given the style and fashion depicted. Continental used that particular logo between 1937-1960 so it is unlikely to be later. I found an aircraft buff who proposed the plane pictured was a DC-7B which also fits with the 1950s timeframe. Many of the well-known artists of that period seem to have been tied up with other airlines at the time and probably had exclusivity agreements. I couldn’t confirm anything further. Should I happen across more details, I’ll let you know.

Zoe aka Madam ZoZo

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Don't subscribe All new comments Replies to my comments Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

The Extraordinary Story of Iconic American Travel Posters

tourist history poster

In the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, the New Deal created jobs for more than 8 million Americans with the development of the Works Projects Administration (WPA). In an effort to bring work to struggling artists, the WPA also hired illustrators, painters and other creative workers for special government-funded work as part of what it dubbed the Federal Art Project.

The effort was astonishing in scope: Between 1935 and 1943, some 2 million posters in 35,000 different designs were created in an effort to promote education, theater, health, safety — and travel.

To inspire American tourism, artists created posters showcasing cities, museums, monuments, zoos and other wonders of the American landscape. Arguably the most iconic posters of all, though, touted one of America's greatest treasures: its spectacular national park system. 

Vintage Posters of the National Parks

C. Don Powell

The majority of the WPA's national park posters are credited to artist C. (Chester) Don Powell, a Kansas man who studied art in Chicago. Unfortunately, World War II cut his project short, leaving just 14 original works, all of which are now collectibles that can fetch thousands of dollars.

Of the 14 posters, 11 originals have been recovered by a former park ranger, Doug Leen, who also works to create posters of additional parks in the same vintage style of the originals.

One poster, of Yosemite, is privately owned. Two posters, of Wind Cave and the Great Smoky Mountains, have been lost — if you find one, Ranger Doug wants to speak to you! 

Grand Teton's Jenny Lake Museum

Grand Teton

The first park to get its own poster was Grand Teton National Park. Its poster appropriately depicts towering peaks, while nodding to the park's first ranger station, Jenny Lake Museum.

The log-cabin station opened in the Montana park in the 1930s and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. An original of this poster hangs in the museum.

Grand Canyon National Park

tourist history poster

The second completed poster is a rendering of Grand Canyon National Park's Moran Point, a popular spot on the east rim that showcases dazzling views of the canyon and its rivers. 

The Grand Canyon had only been a national park for 19 years when this poster was created. Today, more than 6 million people visit the park annually, making it the second-most-visited in the country.

At the time the posters were created, they were sent to local Chambers of Commerce near the parks to help promote tourism. Only four copies from the original 1938 distribution exist.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone

Two posters were created for Yellowstone National Park. One featured a waterfall within the park; the other, pictured here, depicted the park's famous geyser, Old Faithful. There were no more than 100 total Yellowstone posters made, which is why they are so hard to find today. 

Only two originals of this geyser poster remain, including one the Library of Congress bought for a cool $6,000. Although created by Powell, the originals have "EM" initials, assumed to be the initials of the person who made the screening.

Glacier Bay National Monument

tourist history poster

Although Glacier National Park was inducted into the park system in 1910, it wasn't until 1925 that President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed Glacier Bay itself a national monument. Just 13 years later, the National Park Service was promoting the park, reached then by steamship and today by Alaskan cruises.

This poster, along with the additional 13 posters of the national parks, were hand-painted and mass-reproduced from paintings using silkscreen printing, which was a new technology in 1936. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park

tourist history poster

Smoke billows out from the peak of Mt. Lassen in this poster depicting one of America's lesser-visited national parks. (A shame, as its forests, lakes and — of course — volcanoes are magnificent.)

The original poster of Lassen Volcano in California sold at auction for more than $4,000.

Zion National Park

Zion

To reproduce the lost posters, Ranger Doug uncovered black-and-white photography depicting the paintings. Guessing Zion's poster would highlight the park's beautiful sunset-hued colors, he crafted the version showed here. It was 10 years before he found the original, which actually used blue coloring.

Ranger Doug's version of this poster is the more popular of the reproductions purchased today.

Fort Marion National Monument

Fort Marion

St. Augustine, Florida's Fort Marion was one of only two parks from the east to get a poster. (The other was Great Smoky Mountains National Park.)

Today, this monument is known as Castillo de San Marcos. It preserves a fort used by the Spanish, the British and then the Spanish again, before it was bought by the United States and used by the army until 1899.

See America

See America

National parks weren't the only American marvels to get the snazzy poster treatment. The United States Travel Bureau also commissioned works that could be displayed in cities to inspire exploration.

This poster was created by artist Alexander Dux, one of more than 5,000 artists employed by the WPA. While not officially part of the national parks project — and even though it promotes America broadly — it actually does showcase a national park as backdrop: Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Museum

Before the WAP was established in 1935, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had established his own poster project in 1934 to promote tourism to the Big Apple. When the federal project began, LaGuardia's project merged with, and became the largest division of, the WAP's Federal Art Project.

Both the mayor's and FAP's posters were mainly designed for art, music, theater and creative projects, but soon cities and states began using posters to promote other programs as well.

Puerto Rico

Discover Puerto Rico

Also created for the New York City project was a poster promoting travel to Puerto Rico, as the city was touting destinations that could be reached by plane. New York City wanted more people to visit its airports and take flight.

This illustration was designed by Frank S. Nicholson and features a view of San Juan Harbor from Morro Caste.

Winter in New York

Winter in NY

While New York City had the largest poster division in the country, New York State created tourism posters, as well, reminding travelers there was much more to see in the state than the Big Apple. This poster promotes the state's robust skiing scene; New York is home to 43 ski areas , reportedly more than any other state in the U.S.

Through the Federal Art Project, artists were paid $23.50 per week .

Brookfield Zoo

Brookfield Zoo

Chicago created a series of posters promoting the Brookfield Zoo, also called the Chicago Zoological Park, just outside of the city. The zoo had opened in 1934, and the city was attempting to promote it to nearby residents. Decades later, the zoo remains a popular Chicago attraction, housing 450 species of animals.

Other posters plugged sites like Buckingham Fountain, then touted as "the world's largest and most beautiful illuminated fountain"; it also remains a standout spot in the Windy City.

Philadelphia Zoo

Philadelphia Zoo

Pennsylvania created many posters to promote Philadelphia and various tourist destinations, including the Amish Country.

The Philadelphia Zoo, which opened in 1874, was touted in several posters made by the Federal Art Project in Pennsylvania. Each poster featured animals found at the zoo, including a hippo, two herons and this blue elephant. The Philadelphia Zoo remains one of the best in the nation, home to some 1,300 animals.

New York Airports

NYC Airports

Opposition within Congress caused the WAP program to end. By 1942, the WPA art projects were handed over to the Defense Department and transformed into the Graphics Section of the War Service Division. Artists created training aids and patriotic posters for the war.

The project officially ended on June 30, 1943.

The End of an Era

Federal Art Project artists

Due to the Federal Art Project's eight years of employment, renowned artists such as Jackson Pollock were able to continue to earn a living creatively. 

The program also brought art classes to schools and created more than 100 community art centers and galleries across America, keeping art alive for millions during the Great Depression.

The total investment? Nearly $35 million . (More than $520 million in today's terms!)

Journal of Antiques and Collectibles logo

The social platform for antiquers, collectors, and enthusiasts

Editorial Archives

  • Read Current Issue
  • Editorial Extras
  • Map to Show Fields
  • Show Field Schedule
  • Seen Around Brimfield
  • Read Current Brimfield Guide
  • Post-press Updates
  • Marketplace News
  • Digital Publications
  • Collector Clubs
  • Marketplace Exchange
  • Shop Finder Directory

Selling the Dream: The History of the Travel Poster

Selling the Dream: The History of the Travel Poster

Related posts:

A Collector's Take on Music Posters

1 thoughts on “ Selling the Dream: The History of the Travel Poster ”

Pingback: Selling the Dream: The History of the Travel Poster - Rjanti Queattic

Comments are closed.

Journal of Antiques and Collectibles icon

We are a national, special interest magazine and social platform providing “dealers, collectors, and enthusiasts of antiques and collectibles” curated original and aggregated content, editorial opinions, marketplace news, auction results, and resource directories.

Categories of Interest

Gavels 'N' Paddles

Antiques Peek

Great Collections

Collector's Lane

Toys From The Attic

Video Gallery

https://journalofantiques.com/digital-publications/updated-show-directory-2024/

  • Privacy Policy

©2024 The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles

  • Assign a menu in Theme Options > Menus

Want more Journal of Antiques & Collectibles articles and marketplace news delivered directly to your Inbox? Sign up to receive our FREE bi-monthly e-newsletter, Post-Press Update, for information of interest to buyers, showgoers, antiquers, and collectors of antique collectibles. Sign up here:

What is the History of the WPA Posters?

A journey through art and time.

The WPA posters of the 1930s and 1940s hold a special place in American history, serving as a testament to the nation's efforts to pull through the Great Depression. Today, these iconic posters have been revived in WPA-style national park posters by Rob Decker , breathing new life into the timeless designs and enabling a new generation to appreciate these artistic masterpieces. In this blog post, we'll take a trip back in time to explore the origins of WPA posters and how they continue to inspire art lovers and national park enthusiasts alike.

The Beginnings of the WPA and Its Artists

The new deal and the federal art project.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established in 1935 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, aiming to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work during the Great Depression. One of the programs under the WPA was the Federal Art Project (FAP), which provided jobs for thousands of artists, including graphic designers, painters, sculptors, and photographers.

WPA Poster Art and Its Impact

The WPA artists were tasked with creating promotional materials for various public programs and services, including national parks. The result was a plethora of visually striking and captivating posters that left a lasting impression on American art and culture. Some key features of WPA posters include:

  • Bold colors and simple, yet dynamic designs
  • A strong emphasis on typography
  • Iconic images depicting the unique landscapes of America's national parks

WPA-Style National Park Posters by Rob Decker

Fast forward to the present, and photographer and graphic artist Rob Decker has revived the spirit of the WPA artists in his collection of national park posters. Drawing inspiration from the vintage national park posters of the past, Rob has meticulously crafted stunning WPA-style artwork to celebrate America's national parks.

tourist history poster

Click here to see the Grand Teton National Park poster.

Bringing the Past to Life

In his national park prints, Rob Decker has expertly combined the timeless charm of retro national park posters with modern printing techniques, ensuring the highest quality reproductions. Each of Rob's posters captures the essence of the original WPA posters while adding a contemporary twist, making them perfect for today's national park wall art enthusiasts.

A Growing Collection of National Park Artwork

Rob Decker's collection of WPA-style national park posters continues to grow, encompassing a wide range of America's natural wonders. From the serene landscapes of Acadia National Park to the awe-inspiring vistas of the Grand Canyon, Rob's artwork captures the breathtaking beauty of the national parks in true WPA fashion.

The Lasting Legacy of WPA Posters

WPA national park posters have stood the test of time and continue to inspire and captivate art lovers, historians, and nature enthusiasts alike. Rob Decker's dedication to preserving the spirit of the WPA artists through his poster collection ensures that this piece of American history will continue to live on for generations to come.

tourist history poster

Click here to see the Shenandoah National Park poster.

Enhancing Your Home, Office, or Home Office

Whether you're a fan of vintage national park posters or simply a nature enthusiast, Rob Decker's WPA-style posters make a stunning addition to any space. With their vibrant colors and dynamic designs, these posters serve as a constant reminder of the magnificent landscapes that make up America's national parks, making them the perfect choice for home, office, or home office decoration.

The history of the WPA poster is a fascinating journey through art and time, illustrating the resilience and creativity of the American spirit. By celebrating this rich legacy through his WPA-style national park posters, Rob Decker has ensured that the artistry and influence of the WPA artists will never be forgotten. So why not bring a piece of this incredible history into your own space with one of Rob's beautiful national park prints?

Explore the Collection

Ready to discover your favorite WPA-style national park poster? Browse through Rob Decker's extensive collection of stunning artwork, showcasing the natural beauty and majesty of America's national parks. From coast to coast, there's sure to be a poster that captures the essence of your favorite park or inspires you to explore a new one.

A Timeless Gift for the National Park Enthusiast

Looking for the perfect gift for a national park lover or art aficionado? A WPA-style national park poster is a thoughtful and meaningful present that will be cherished for years to come. Whether it's for a special occasion or simply to brighten up a loved one's space, Rob Decker's posters are a beautiful way to share your appreciation for America's national parks.

tourist history poster

Click here to see the White Sands National Park poster.

As you explore the rich history of the WPA poster and the captivating artwork created by both past and present artists, you'll be transported to a time when art and nature converged to inspire a nation. Embrace the enduring legacy of WPA national park posters and bring a piece of America's artistic heritage into your home or office with Rob Decker's exceptional WPA-style national park wall art.

About the Artist

Rob Decker is a photographer and graphic artist with more than 50 years of experience . He is on a mission to visit, photograph and create stunning WPA-style national park posters for each of America's national parks. He's been to 55 of our 63 national parks, so far... Rob was mentored by Ansel Adams, a legendary figure in American photography in Yosemite National Park when he was just 19 years old. This expertise and dedication to his craft has enabled him to produce high-quality, authentic artwork that captures the beauty and essence of America's national parks. His work is not only aesthetically pleasing but also environmentally conscious, as a portion of the proceeds from poster sales goes towards supporting national park conservation efforts.

Join our thriving community of over 80,000 National Park enthusiasts and receive insider deals and updates.

  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
  • Opens in a new window.

🔥 Get 25% OFF Storewide! (Discount Applied at Checkout) 🔥

Item added to your cart

New arrivals.

We are thrilled to introduce our latest collection of vintage advertising posters, featuring a stunning array of high-quality Campari posters. Take a deep dive into our meticulously curated and beautifully retouched poster collection now!

Dare to pair

We are excited to showcase our customer Courtney's interior, beautifully enhanced with our vintage travel posters. The pair Courtney selected perfectly complements each other, evoking a sense of both summer and winter adventures.

Australia Surf Club vintage travel poster by Sellheim, 1930s.

Our Latest Picks

Paris exposition internationale 1937 vintage exposition poster, french vintage wall art, 1937., french alps cote d'azur france vintage travel poster., air france, paris, france vintage travel poster, extra large wall art., cote d'azur, france vintage travel poster by roger broders, 1930s., funicular monte bre lugano lake, switzerland vintage travel poster by unknown artist, c. 1930s., funicular monte bre lugano lake, switzerland vintage poster by unknown author, c. 1930s., david (brooklyn, united states).

Excellent print quality on heavy paper. Much better than I could imagine. Love it! Very pleasant transaction and super speedy delivery. Would recommend to anyone. Thank you!

Jessica (Pasadena, United States)

Great quality, color is awesome. The communication was quick and easy through messaging about details. Shipping was also super quick, felt like it was in the mail the next day! Im very happy with my experience and poster print.

Peter Spielmann (Bronxville, United States)

Just as pictured. Even better, I asked for it in a larger size (the size of the original poster) and the vendor was able to produce it. Good communication and ready to please. It is now framed and hung, and am most happy. The image was about $39 and the frame about $30; my investigation into this began when I saw an original poster for sale for $1,500, but the original had a bit of wear and damage that is not in this reproduction.

Vintage Travel Posters

Step into a journey through time with our collection of vintage travel posters from the Golden Age. Each scan is subtly retouched, preserving its unique vintage charm for digital reproductions on museum-quality matte paper. Explore the elegance of 19th and early 20th-century travel in our curated selection.

Posters by country

Australia travel posters, europe travel posters, italy travel posters, spain travel posters, france travel posters, caribbean travel posters, austria travel posters, switzerland travel posters, africa travel posters, south america travel posters, usa travel posters, mexico travel posters, travel destinations, ultimate guide for traveling to the french rivi....

Discover the allure of the French Riviera, also known as La Côte d'Azur, in our ultimate guide tailored for your summer 2024 adventure. This legendary coastline epitomizes luxury, glamour, and...

Unveiling the Magic of Cadiz: Fascinating Facts...

Embark on a journey to the captivating city of Cadiz, Spain, where history, culture, and stunning coastal beauty intertwine. With its ancient origins, architectural marvels, and vibrant traditions, Cadiz offers...

Discovering Jamaica: Interesting Facts and 20 E...

Jamaica is a beautiful island nation with a rich cultural heritage and stunning natural landscapes. From its famous reggae music to its delicious cuisine and world-renowned beaches, there's something for...

Our travel posters proudly displayed in the homes of our satisfied customers

Norway natures wonderland.

Luke: Very happy with how this poster turned out! Thankful this shop has such interesting graphic design :)

Natures wonderland, Norway vintage travel poster by unknown author, 1930s.

Charming La Côte d'Azur

Lexie: Arrived before expected, great quality.. pleasurable transaction 5 ⭐️

Ete, Cote d'Azur, France vintage travel poster by unknown author, 1925.

  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.

🇬🇧 We're a family company. Our profits help support Ukraine 🇺🇦

Pimlico Prints

Item added to your cart

A journey through time: the captivating history of travel posters.

In the age of digital advertising and social media influencers, it's easy to forget the allure and charm of a bygone era's travel posters. These iconic images, with their vivid colours, bold typography, and enticing imagery, have been enticing wanderlust for over a century. Let's take a journey through time to explore the fascinating history of travel posters, from their humble beginnings to their enduring legacy in the world of design and tourism.

The birth of travel posters

The origins of travel posters can be traced back to the late 19th century when the invention of lithography revolutionised the printing industry. This innovative printing technique allowed for mass production of colourful images at a relatively low cost, making it ideal for advertising purposes. Initially used for promoting products and events, it wasn't long before enterprising travel companies realised the potential of these eye-catching prints to attract tourists to exotic destinations.

The Golden Age of Travel Posters

Penzance poster

The period between the late 19th and early 20th centuries is often referred to as the Golden Age of Travel Posters. During this time, railways and steamship companies commissioned artists to create enticing posters promoting travel to destinations around the world. Iconic artists such as Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Alphonse Mucha lent their talents to the creation of stunning posters that captured the imagination of the public.

One of the most famous examples of this era is the posters produced by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in the 1920s and 1930s. Artists such as Tom Purvis and Frank Newbould created bold, graphic images showcasing the beauty of destinations such as Scotland, the Lake District, and the English Riviera. These posters not only encouraged domestic travel but also promoted the idea of leisure travel as a desirable pursuit.

The Rise of Art Deco

Antibes poster Roger Broders

The Art Deco movement, which emerged in the 1920s, had a significant influence on travel poster design. Characterised by geometric shapes, streamlined forms, and vibrant colours, Art Deco posters reflected the modernity and optimism of the era. Artists such as A.M. Cassandre and Roger Broders embraced the Art Deco aesthetic in their travel posters, creating sleek and stylish images that epitomised the glamour of travel by luxury liners and aeroplanes.

The impact of World War II

The outbreak of World War II marked the end of the Golden Age of Travel Posters, as travel restrictions and rationing made leisure travel a distant dream for many. However, the war also brought about new opportunities for travel poster artists, as governments and military organisations commissioned posters to promote wartime activities such as recruitment, rationing, and morale-boosting campaigns. After the war, the popularity of travel posters waned as other forms of advertising, such as television and photography, gained prominence.

The boom of post war travel

After World War II, the rise of commercial aviation revolutionised the way people travelled and consequently influenced the evolution of travel posters. Airlines such as Trans World Airlines (TWA) and Pan American World Airways (PanAm) continued to recognise the power of posters as a marketing tool to promote air travel to an expanding list of destinations around the globe.

New York David Klein poster

In the post-war era, airline posters depicted glamorous jet-setters embarking on adventures to exotic locales such as Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and beyond. These posters sought to evoke a sense of glamour and sophistication and often featured sleek, modern aircraft soaring through the skies against dramatic backdrops, symbolising the freedom and excitement of air travel.

As air travel became more accessible and affordable in the latter half of the 20th century, the demand for travel posters soared. Artists and designers continued to create captivating images that inspired wanderlust and encouraged people to explore the world around them.

While the advent of digital advertising has changed the way travel is marketed in the 21st century, vintage airline posters remain cherished relics of a bygone era, serving as reminders of the golden age of travel and the pioneering spirit of those who dared to dream of distant horizons.

Check out our Travel Posters collection.

  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
  • Opens in a new window.

Free Shipping in Australia

Vintage Wall Art

The History and Evolution of Vintage Travel Posters: Exploring the Heritage and Cultural Impact

Introduction.

Vintage travel posters have captured the imagination of generations of travellers and art enthusiasts alike. They offer a nostalgic and colourful glimpse into the past, highlighting the beauty and allure of various destinations around the world. These posters have played a pivotal role in shaping the travel industry and popular culture while serving as visual masterpieces that have stood the test of time. In this blog post, we will explore the origins and development of vintage travel posters, delving into their impact on tourism, design trends, and popular culture.

Early Beginnings

The history of travel posters dates back to the late 19th century when advances in printing technology, particularly colour lithography, made it possible to produce vibrant, eye-catching images at an affordable cost. This development coincided with the expansion of railway networks and the growth of the tourism industry, creating a demand for promotional materials that could entice potential travellers.

In the early days, travel posters primarily focused on promoting rail travel and were commissioned by railway companies to advertise their services and the destinations they served. One of the earliest known travel posters, created in 1873 by French artist Jules Chéret, promoted a train route from Paris to the coastal town of Trouville. Chéret's innovative use of colour and typography laid the foundation for the visual language of travel posters.

The Golden Age of Travel Posters

The period between the 1920s and the 1950s is often referred to as the "Golden Age" of travel posters. During this time, the popularity of travel posters soared, and the designs became more sophisticated and artistic. Many renowned artists and illustrators, such as Roger Broders, A.M. Cassandre, and Frank Newbould, created iconic posters that have become highly sought-after collector's items.

During the Golden Age, travel posters were used to promote various modes of transportation, including ocean liners, aeroplanes, and automobiles. They also advertised specific destinations, featuring stunning landscapes, exotic locales, and architectural landmarks. The imagery and design of these posters often reflected the art movements of the time, such as Art Deco, Futurism, and Modernism.

One of the most famous travel posters of this era is Cassandre's "L'Atlantique" (1931), which showcases the streamlined form of an ocean liner slicing through the waves. This striking image captures the essence of the Art Deco movement, characterised by bold geometric shapes, clean lines, and a sense of movement and dynamism.

The Role of Travel Posters in Promoting Tourism

Travel posters played a crucial role in promoting tourism by creating a visual connection between potential travellers and the destinations they could visit. They used a combination of evocative imagery, bold typography, and vibrant colours to evoke the unique atmosphere and attractions of various places.

For example, vintage travel posters featuring the French Riviera often depicted the region's sun-soaked beaches, azure waters, and glamorous high society, enticing travellers to experience the allure of this famed coastal paradise. Similarly, posters showcasing the Swiss Alps would highlight the dramatic landscapes and outdoor activities that awaited visitors, such as skiing, hiking, and mountaineering.

These posters not only enticed tourists to visit specific destinations but also played a role in shaping the image and identity of these places. They often emphasised the most attractive and distinctive aspects of a destination, creating a romanticised and idealised vision that would appeal to potential travellers.

The Influence of Travel Posters on Design and Popular Culture

The designs of vintage travel posters have had a lasting impact on visual culture and design trends. They have inspired countless artists and designers over the years, who have incorporated elements of these posters into their own work, from advertising and packaging design to fashion and interior design.

Some key characteristics of vintage travel posters that have influenced design trends include the use of bold, saturated colours, dynamic compositions, and stylised typography. These design elements, combined with the romanticised and often exotic subject matter, create a sense of nostalgia and wanderlust that continues to captivate audiences.

Travel posters have also played a significant role in shaping popular culture, particularly in the way that destinations are perceived and represented. They have contributed to the formation of iconic and enduring images, such as the sun-drenched beaches of the Mediterranean, the bustling streets of New York City, or the serene beauty of the English countryside. These images have become deeply ingrained in the collective imagination, influencing how we view and experience these places.

The Revival of Vintage Travel Posters

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in vintage travel posters, both as collectible art and as a source of inspiration for contemporary design. This revival can be attributed to several factors, including the growing appreciation for the craftsmanship and artistic skill of the original poster artists, as well as a renewed fascination with the romanticised, nostalgic vision of travel that these posters represent.

Modern-day artists and designers have drawn inspiration from vintage travel posters to create new works that pay homage to this classic art form. These contemporary interpretations often incorporate modern design techniques and digital tools while maintaining the distinctive visual language and spirit of the original posters.

The enduring appeal of vintage travel posters can also be seen in the popularity of reproductions and high-quality prints, which allow enthusiasts to bring the charm and allure of these artworks into their own homes. These reproductions not only serve as decorative pieces but also as a celebration of the rich history and cultural significance of travel posters as an art form.

The history and evolution of vintage travel posters offer a fascinating glimpse into the past, showcasing the allure of distant destinations and the creative ingenuity of the artists who brought them to life. These posters have played a pivotal role in shaping the travel industry and popular culture, influencing design trends and the way we perceive and experience the world around us.

Today, the legacy of vintage travel posters endures through the ongoing appreciation for their artistic merit, as well as the continued influence they have on contemporary design and popular culture. As we continue to explore new horizons and seek out unique experiences, the spirit of wanderlust and adventure embodied by vintage travel posters will remain an enduring source of inspiration and enchantment.

  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
  • Opens in a new window.

tourist history poster

Submission Successful!

Please check your email for more information., to view your wishlist, please login.

International Poster Gallery

Original Vintage Posters from around the Globe Our 30th Year

  • Animals & Creatures (118)
  • Autos, Bicycles, Cycles, Planes (73)
  • Circus & Zoo (21)
  • Clothing, Fashion & Stores (86)
  • Cosmetics & Beauty (5)
  • Fairs & Expos (51)
  • Art & Architecture (298)
  • Books & Magazines (78)
  • Exhibitions (255)
  • Beverage (124)
  • Gift Ideas (94)
  • Home & Appliances (32)
  • Horizontals (220)
  • In-Store Displays (14)
  • Labels (108)
  • Maitres de l'Affiche (41)
  • All Music incl. Opera (245)
  • Rock and Roll (73)
  • Poster Books (21)
  • Education (66)
  • Newspapers & Media (61)
  • Politics, Gov't & Causes (100)
  • Religion & Charity (40)
  • Ricordi Portfolio (16)
  • Smoking (25)
  • All Sports incl. Auto Racing (80)
  • Skiing & Winter Sports (49)
  • Theatre & Magic (28)
  • Airlines (53)
  • Motor & Sail Boats (6)
  • Ocean Liners (43)
  • Railroads (27)
  • Schedules & Maps (33)
  • Australasia (3)
  • Eur: Austria & Germany (34)
  • Eur: France & Belgium (32)
  • Eur: Italy, UK & Spain (30)
  • Eur: Scandinavia (5)
  • Eur: Switzerland (25)
  • Eur: Other Countries (8)
  • Latin America (5)
  • USA & Canada (48)
  • Home Front (37)
  • Miscellaneous (5)
  • Recruiting (8)
  • Soviet (47)
  • War Bonds (43)
  • World War I (73)
  • World War II (114)
  • Work Incentive (24)
  • Australia & New Zealand (3)
  • Belgium & The Netherlands (45)
  • Eastern Europe (46)
  • FR - Belle Epoque & WWI (84)
  • FR - Jazz Age Thru WWII (65)
  • FR - After WWII (217)
  • Germany & Austria (160)
  • Great Britain & Ireland (37)
  • Italy - Opulent Age thru WWI (34)
  • Italy - The Fascist Era (50)
  • Italy - Postwar Boom (134)
  • Latin America (28)
  • Middle East (1)
  • RU - Bolshevik Era (7)
  • RU - New Economic Policy (NEP) (3)
  • RU - 1st & 2nd Five Yr Plans (1)
  • RU - WWII to Present (234)
  • Scandinavia (22)
  • Swiss - Early 20th Century (38)
  • Swiss - Mid Century (43)
  • Swiss - Sixties & Seventies (114)
  • Swiss - Eighties to Present (197)
  • US - Turn of the Century (13)
  • US - World War I (66)
  • US - Roaring '20s to Present (316)
  • 50s Style (73)
  • 60s Style (45)
  • Art Deco (171)
  • Art Nouveau (152)
  • Bolshevik (7)
  • Cappiello Style (12)
  • Constructivist (15)
  • Futurist (16)
  • Int'l Typographic Style (99)
  • 50s & 60s Style (117)
  • Pop Art (22)
  • Object Poster (14)
  • Photomontage (59)
  • Post Modern (233)
  • Poster Style (Plakatstil) (62)
  • Psychedelic (Sixties) (66)
  • Vienna Secession (5)
  • Bathroom (10)
  • Beach House (35)
  • Child's Room (41)
  • Hallway (58)
  • Kitchen (48)
  • Office (61)
  • Ski Chalet (36)
  • Small - max 24 in (64 cm) (551)
  • Medium - max 44 in (112 cm) (899)
  • Med/Large - max 51 in (130 cm) (415)
  • Large - max 64 in (163 cm) (136)
  • Oversize > 64 in (163 cm) (101)
  • Horizontal (263)
  • $100 and under (445)
  • $101 to $250 (500)
  • $251 to $500 (579)
  • $501 to $1,000 (296)
  • $1,001 to $2,400 (179)
  • $2,401 to $3,200 (26)
  • $3,201 to $6,000 (60)
  • $6,001 to $10,000 (7)
  • over $10,000 (12)
  • Aberg, O (5)
  • Abruzzese, Alberto & Simona de Iulio (1)
  • Addison (1)
  • Afflerbach, Ferdi (1)
  • Aicher, Otl (3)
  • Albers, Josef (2)
  • Alberti (1)
  • Anton, Ottomar (6)
  • Antonov, F. (1)
  • Appel, Karel (1)
  • Artist Unknown (573)
  • Astruc, Leon (1)
  • Atelier Populaire (3)
  • Atherton, John (2)
  • Auger, Raoul (2)
  • Adami, Valerio (4)
  • Aberg, G. (1)
  • Arseenkova, V. (3)
  • Augustinova, Bozhena (1)
  • Arseenkov (2)
  • Akhunov, M. (1)
  • Abramov & Andreev (1)
  • Arsenkov, v. (1)
  • Arpke, Otto (1)
  • Anderson, J.S. (1)
  • Antonchenko, Anatoliy (1)
  • Axster-Heudtlass, Werner von (1)
  • Bac, Ferdinand (1)
  • Bacchi, Balz (1)
  • Bachs, Munoz (3)
  • Badia, Ricard (1)
  • Bahamas (1)
  • Baker, Ernest Hamlin (2)
  • Ballester, Anselmo (5)
  • Barcet, E. (1)
  • Baskerville, Charles (1)
  • Batany, Cheval (1)
  • Baumberger, Otto (6)
  • Bazzi, Mario (2)
  • Beardon, Romare (1)
  • Beck, Joel (1)
  • Becker, Ruedi (1)
  • Beckman, Anders (1)
  • Beneker, Gerrit (1)
  • Berckmans, Roger (1)
  • Bernard, Francis (2)
  • Besig, Walter (1)
  • Bickel, Karl (1)
  • Bierut, Michael (1)
  • Bill, Max (3)
  • Birkhauser, Peter (6)
  • Bischof, Werner (1)
  • Bisshof, Werner (1)
  • Blashfield, Edwin Howland (1)
  • Blashfield, Jim (1)
  • Blochlinger, A. (1)
  • Blumenstein/Plancherel/Krugel (1)
  • Boccasile, Gino (3)
  • Boissonas, F. (1)
  • Bon Salle, George and Jeanne (1)
  • Boner, Georgette (1)
  • Borgersen, Orville (1)
  • Borghesil (1)
  • Borgoni, Mario (1)
  • Boscovitz, Fritz (1)
  • Botero, Fernando (1)
  • Botta, Mario (1)
  • Bouvet, Michel (1)
  • Bracker, M. Leone (1)
  • Bragalini, A. (1)
  • Braque, Georges (9)
  • Brayer, Yves (2)
  • Bridge, Alexander (1)
  • Briggs, Austin (1)
  • Brini, Ercole (4)
  • Brissaud, Jacques (1)
  • Brown, Arthur William (1)
  • Bruhwiler, Paul (24)
  • Brun, Donald (2)
  • Brunner, Vratislav H. (1)
  • Bundi, Stephan (1)
  • Burke, Alfred (1)
  • Bury, Pol (3)
  • Bush, S. L. (3)
  • Butler, John (1)
  • Butler, Roland (1)
  • Byrd, David (1)
  • Byrne, Roger (1)
  • Bertram/Volkart (1)
  • Bazaine, Jean Rene (1)
  • Benko, Sandor (1)
  • Bogorad (1)
  • Bouvard, R. (1)
  • Beall, C.C. (1)
  • Bergsoe, Thomas (1)
  • Bret, Francois (1)
  • Bruggisser, Markus (3)
  • Bosshard, H.R. (1)
  • Brindisi, Remo (1)
  • Barrenechea (1)
  • Birchansky (1)
  • Bairakov (1)
  • Berezitsky, A. (1)
  • Bystriakov (1)
  • Bayer, Herbert (1)
  • Belsky & Potapov (1)
  • Bonnard, Pierre (1)
  • Brissaud, Pierre (1)
  • Brechbuhl, Erich (1)
  • Blondel La Rougery (1)
  • Bonnert (1)
  • Baojian, Yu (1)
  • Babin, N. (1)
  • Belsky, Fedor (1)
  • Caillaud, L. (1)
  • Caldanzano, Luigi Emilio (1)
  • Calder, Alexander (3)
  • Canale, V. (2)
  • Canta, Agnes C. (1)
  • Capitani, Alfredo (1)
  • Cappiello, Leonetto (1)
  • Carboni, Erberto (2)
  • Cardinaux, Emil (1)
  • Carnevale-Mauzan, Mirande (1)
  • Caro, Valentin (1)
  • Casaro, R. (1)
  • Cassandre, A. M. (3)
  • Cesselon, Angelo (6)
  • Chagall, Marc (4)
  • Chan, Harvey (1)
  • Charpentier, Alexandre (1)
  • Chebakov, N. (1)
  • Cheremnych, Mikhail (1)
  • Cheret, Jules (10)
  • Chiarel (1)
  • Chillida, Eduardo (2)
  • Christy, Howard Chandler (2)
  • Cimino, Harry (3)
  • Cisari, Giulio (1)
  • Cittato, Giulio (1)
  • Clave, Antonio (1)
  • Clouet, Emile (1)
  • Codognato, Plinio (1)
  • Codoni, Aldo (1)
  • Colas, Yvonne (1)
  • Colin, Paul (1)
  • Conklin, Lee (3)
  • Contino, Vittorugo (1)
  • Crafty (Victor Geruzez) (1)
  • Cremonesi, Carmelo (1)
  • Crovoto (2)
  • Cocteau, Jean (2)
  • Courtin, Pierre (1)
  • Cussetti (1)
  • Covarrubias, Miguel (1)
  • Chernyi, I. (2)
  • Chistilin, I. (1)
  • Collomb, Paul (1)
  • Cassigneul, Jean-Pierre (1)
  • Coggins, Jack (1)
  • Coughlin, John A. (1)
  • Colavidas, Onesim (1)
  • Camy, Edward (1)
  • Dahl-Wolfe, Louise (1)
  • Dali, Salvador (1)
  • Damiani (1)
  • d'apres Faure, G. (2)
  • d'apres Kamb (1)
  • d'apres Martin, Charles (1)
  • d'apres Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri (14)
  • d'apres, Henri Matisse (1)
  • David, Jean (1)
  • Davis, Paul (2)
  • de Feure, Georges (1)
  • de Praetere, Jules (1)
  • Deamicis (2)
  • Dellepiane, David (1)
  • Denisovsky, Nikolay Federovich (2)
  • Depero, Fortunato (1)
  • Depuy, Hal (1)
  • Dexel, Walter (1)
  • Dickerman, Leah (1)
  • Diethelm, Walter (1)
  • Diggelmann, Alex Walter (1)
  • Dine, Jim (1)
  • Distefano (1)
  • Dixon, Charles (1)
  • Dlugach, Mikhail (1)
  • Domergue, Jean-Gabriel (2)
  • Dradi, Carlo (1)
  • Dubois, Jacques (1)
  • Dudovich, Marcello (4)
  • Dudzinski, Ansrzej (1)
  • Dumbar, Gert (2)
  • Dumville, Fritz (1)
  • Dydo, Krysztof (1)
  • d'Ylen, Jean (2)
  • Drewinski, Lex (1)
  • d'apres Gris, Juan (1)
  • Dubuffet, Jean (1)
  • Driessen, Willem Adriaan (1)
  • Danioth, Heinrich (1)
  • Deni, Victor (2)
  • de Kermadec, Eugene (1)
  • Dzubas, Friedel (1)
  • Dzhanikian, a. (1)
  • Dubeniuk (1)
  • d'Arquizan, Autour (1)
  • Dobrovolsky, V. (1)
  • Dietrich, Paul (1)
  • d'apres Favre, G. (2)
  • Edelmann, Heinz (2)
  • Edmundson (1)
  • Eggleston, Edward (1)
  • Eggmann, HM (1)
  • Eidrigevicius (Stasys), Stasys (4)
  • Elagin, A. (1)
  • Elmes, Willard Frederic (4)
  • Ermakov (1)
  • Ernst, Otto (1)
  • Escher, Gielijn (1)
  • Esteve, Maurice (2)
  • Etbauer, Paul Theodore (1)
  • EXEM (Emmanuel Excoffier) (2)
  • Ernst, Max (1)
  • Emmerick, Louis (1)
  • Efimov, Boris (2)
  • Eliseev, A. (1)
  • Emrenberger (1)
  • Fabigan, Hans (2)
  • Fachun, J. Des (1)
  • Faria, Candido Aragonese De (2)
  • Farini, Ferruccio (1)
  • Fay, Georges (1)
  • Fischer, Otto (2)
  • Fisher, Harrison C. (1)
  • Flagg, James Montgomery (1)
  • Folon, Jean-Michel (1)
  • Foringer, Alonzo E. (1)
  • Fournier, H (1)
  • Fraipont, Gustave (1)
  • Franciscono, Marcel (1)
  • Frenzel, Prof. H. K. (2)
  • Fuss, Albert (1)
  • Feininger, Lyonel (1)
  • Foster, David (1)
  • Fiedler, Francois (2)
  • Flem, Wladimir (1)
  • Fedianin, K. (1)
  • Furaev, A. (1)
  • Fiorio, Serge (1)
  • Fernel, Fernand (1)
  • Foss, Jonathan (1)
  • Gable, John (5)
  • Galland, Andre (1)
  • Garretto, Paolo (1)
  • Gasser, Bruno (1)
  • Gauchat, Pierre (1)
  • Gavrilov (2)
  • Gee, Peter (2)
  • Geismar, Thomas (2)
  • Geissbuhler, K. Domenic (17)
  • Gelotte (1)
  • Gestel, Leo (1)
  • Gfeller, Thomas (1)
  • Gilles, Ettlin (1)
  • Gipkens, Julius (2)
  • Gir, Charles-Felix (1)
  • Gorowski, M. (1)
  • Grabner (1)
  • Graski, Jozef (1)
  • Griffin, Rick (6)
  • Gruau, Rene (1)
  • Grun, Jules-Alexandre (1)
  • Grunbock, Fritz (1)
  • Guillaume, Albert (1)
  • Gyssler, F & D (1)
  • Garache (1)
  • Giacometti, Alberto (2)
  • Golovkova, l. (1)
  • Gaussman (1)
  • Gontar, A.O. (1)
  • Gonzalez, Xavier (1)
  • Gardashnikova & Sursky (1)
  • Getman, M. (1)
  • Gurtler, Andre (1)
  • Glintzer, E. (1)
  • Groth, W (1)
  • Gual, Adrià (1)
  • Greene, Walter L. (1)
  • Granger (1)
  • Hallo ("Alo"), Charles (2)
  • Hanks, Pat (1)
  • Hardy, Dudley (1)
  • Hartung, Hans (1)
  • Haskell (1)
  • Hazard, Abigail Kellogg (2)
  • Hazenplug, Frank (1)
  • Henrikksen, Sven (1)
  • Hilaire, Camille (2)
  • Hockney, David (1)
  • Hofmann, Armin (14)
  • Hohenstein, Adolfo (4)
  • Hohlwein, Ludwig (47)
  • Holzwarth, Hans Werner (1)
  • Honegger, Gottfried (1)
  • Hoppler, Albert (1)
  • Hotz, E. (1)
  • Humbert and Vogt (1)
  • Hurkmans, Ge. (1)
  • Hanni, Romano (1)
  • Hantai, Simon (1)
  • Humair, Gabriel (1)
  • Hadengue, Sebastien (1)
  • Hargittai, Paul (1)
  • Horton/Sandiford (1)
  • Hetsterkamp, W. (1)
  • Haijiang, Jia (1)
  • Haffner, L. (1)
  • Handel-Mazzetti, Edo von (1)
  • Herbin, Auguste (1)
  • Hotop, G. (1)
  • Hauglustaine (1)
  • Him, George (1)
  • Ibels, Henri-Gabriel (4)
  • Illegible (7)
  • Imboden, Melchior (2)
  • Iribe, Paul (2)
  • Irons, Greg (1)
  • Isern, Albert (1)
  • Ivanov, K (1)
  • Isakov, Yu. (1)
  • Ivanov, V. (3)
  • Ingres, Maurice (1)
  • Jank, Angelo (1)
  • Jeker, Werner (21)
  • Jenko, Radovan (1)
  • Jakfalvy, Tibor (1)
  • Jung, Moriz (1)
  • Jebray, Fritz (7)
  • Kandinsky, Wassily (3)
  • Kawamura, U. (1)
  • Keller, G (1)
  • Kelley, Alton (1)
  • Klein, David (1)
  • Klijn, W. (1)
  • Klinger, Julius (1)
  • Knab, A. (1)
  • Koella, Alfred (1)
  • Koerner, H. (1)
  • Koretsky, Viktor (1)
  • Kothmair, Hans (1)
  • Kraczyna, Swietlan (1)
  • Krol, Stan (1)
  • Kuhn-Klein, Claude (3)
  • Kukryniksy (1)
  • Kunst, Carl (1)
  • Kuntz, Willy Fischer and Milo (1)
  • Kawu, Hon (1)
  • Katona, Laszlo (1)
  • Kolozsvary, Gyorgy (1)
  • Kirnig, Paul (1)
  • Knecht, Ursula (1)
  • Kuznetsov, S. (1)
  • Komarov, G. (1)
  • Kudryashov, Vladimir (1)
  • Kononov, V. (2)
  • Kundishev (1)
  • Khrumov (1)
  • Kagarov, F. (1)
  • Kachar, O. (1)
  • Kukharuk, L. (1)
  • Kovalev & Zharov (1)
  • Kravchenko & Kravchenko (1)
  • Koidan, L. (2)
  • Kisliakova, T. (1)
  • Korolev (1)
  • Karnaukhova, O. (1)
  • Kalarus, Roman (2)
  • Kellenberger, Eric (1)
  • Keller, Ferdinand (1)
  • Ladyagin, V. (2)
  • Lafon, J.M. (1)
  • Laskoff, Franz (2)
  • Lawler, Paul G. (4)
  • Leupin, Herbert (38)
  • Levy, Jean-Benoit (2)
  • Leyendecker, Joseph (1)
  • Lichsteiner/Staehelin (2)
  • Lindner, Richard (1)
  • Lofthouse, Patrick (1)
  • Lopatina (1)
  • Ludekens, Fred (2)
  • Luns, Huib (1)
  • Lyushin, V. (1)
  • Lebadang (1)
  • Lartigue, Dany (2)
  • Leskovar, Mari (1)
  • Lascaux, Elie (1)
  • Le Yaouanc, Alain (2)
  • Ledannois, Jean-Marie (1)
  • Lebedev, Vladimir (1)
  • Lopatin, Yu. (1)
  • Lukianov, M. (1)
  • Lozenko, A. (1)
  • Lutsenko (1)
  • Litvinenko (1)
  • Lazarev, A. O. (1)
  • Litvinenko & Tulinov (1)
  • Lyford, Philip (1)
  • Lebadang, Hoi (1)
  • Laurencin, Marie (1)
  • Leger, Fernand (3)
  • Lighthouse (1)
  • Lindgren Brothers (2)
  • MacLean, Bonnie (2)
  • Magagnoli (Maga), Giuseppe (1)
  • Maier, Johann Bartist (1)
  • Malerba, E. (1)
  • Manfredo (1)
  • Mangano, Lisa M. (1)
  • Mangold, Burkhard (1)
  • Marchesi (1)
  • Mariscal (1)
  • Marlen Perez, Rene Gauch/ (1)
  • Martin, Charles (1)
  • Martinati, Luigi (4)
  • Masson, Andre (5)
  • Masters, Frank B. (1)
  • Masuda, Coco (1)
  • Matisse, Henri (1)
  • Matter, Herbert (1)
  • Mauzan, Achille (2)
  • Mavignier, Almir (3)
  • Maviyane-Davies, Chaz (1)
  • Mazza, Aldo (1)
  • McIntosh, Frank (1)
  • Mendell, Pierre (1)
  • Metlicovitz, Leopoldo (8)
  • Meunier, Georges (1)
  • Mieke Rijinders (1)
  • Mikhailova, Alla (1)
  • Miller, Bill (1)
  • Mingozzi Studio (1)
  • Mingozzi, Giovanni (2)
  • Miro, Joan (5)
  • Mlodozeniec, Jan (1)
  • Molkenboer, Antonius (1)
  • Mondacca (1)
  • Monguzzi, Bruno (5)
  • Monod, Jean (1)
  • Monogram E.D.A. (1)
  • Monogram H (1)
  • Monogram JA (1)
  • Monogram R.M. (1)
  • Monogram RBK (1)
  • Moos, Carl (1)
  • Morach, Otto (1)
  • Moreau-Nelaton, Etienne (3)
  • Moscoso, Victor (8)
  • Moser, Peter (1)
  • Mouron, Henri (1)
  • Mouse, Stanley (2)
  • Mucha, Alphonse (3)
  • Mueller, Fridolin (1)
  • Muggiani, Giorgio (1)
  • Mullarky, Rick (1)
  • Muller & Hess (3)
  • Muller, Lars (2)
  • Muller-Brockmann, Josef (37)
  • Murch, Frank (1)
  • Museo Civico Luigi Bailo (1)
  • Muybridge, Eadward (1)
  • Muller, Lars & Monika Gold (1)
  • Matyas, Gal (1)
  • Mouly, Marcel (1)
  • Moor, Dimitri (4)
  • Massonet (1)
  • Mehely, Ivan (1)
  • Monogram DP (1)
  • Minenok, S.P. (1)
  • Miturich (1)
  • Moisienko, S. (1)
  • Mikheeva & Bulkin (2)
  • Minenok, S. P. (1)
  • Monogram JS (1)
  • Markovsky, I. V. (1)
  • Mekhantiev, V. (1)
  • Merkushev, A. F. (1)
  • Mueller, Harry (1)
  • Miller, Chester R. (1)
  • Max, Peter (1)
  • Malyi, V. (1)
  • Muller, Walter (2)
  • Nano, (Silvano Campeggi) (5)
  • Napoli, Bruno (1)
  • Nathan-Garamond, Jacques (2)
  • Nespolo (1)
  • Neuberg, Hans (1)
  • Nistri, Enzo (9)
  • Nitsche, Erik (5)
  • Nizzoli, Marcello (1)
  • Noviant, Evelyne (1)
  • Nuhn, Peter (4)
  • Nygaard, Axel (1)
  • Nemkova, T (1)
  • Nikolaev (1)
  • Nazarov (1)
  • Nepomniashchii (1)
  • Nix, Leo (1)
  • Newman, Earl (1)
  • Odermatt, Siegfried (6)
  • Odermatt/Tissi (4)
  • Olbinski, Rafal (1)
  • Oliva, Viktor (1)
  • Olivetti, Giorgio (3)
  • Oppenheim, Louis (1)
  • Orr, Alfred Everitt (2)
  • Orr, Norman (6)
  • Ott, Henri (1)
  • Orrby, Gunnar (1)
  • Ostroumenskaya, I. V. (1)
  • Ogryzko, L. (2)
  • Orosz, Istvan (4)
  • P., Omnia (1)
  • Pagowski, Andrzej (1)
  • Palanti, Giuseppe (1)
  • Parmeev (1)
  • Paus, Herbert (2)
  • Peikert, Martin (1)
  • Penfield, Edward (1)
  • Perceval (1)
  • Perry, Alain Weill & Israel (1)
  • Petruccelli, Antonio (1)
  • Pfeiffer, Walter (6)
  • Pfund, Roger (2)
  • Piatti, Celestino (1)
  • Picasso, Pablo (4)
  • Piovano (1)
  • Plotnov, A. (1)
  • Poliakoff, Serge (3)
  • Procka, Elzbieta (1)
  • Pryde & Nicholson, The Beggarstaff Brothers (3)
  • Przhetslavsky, A. (1)
  • Pirtle, Woody (2)
  • Palazuelo, Pablo (1)
  • Pichette, James (1)
  • Patkévitch, Eugene (1)
  • Pavel Sokolov-Skalia & Nikolai Radlov (1)
  • Popov, s. (1)
  • Pogrebinsky & Khenkin (1)
  • Presniakov (1)
  • Pudelko, Stanislav (1)
  • Petryga-Rodionov, I. (1)
  • Pilishenko, I. (2)
  • Pompiansky, L. (1)
  • Palui, d. (1)
  • Postnikh, L. (2)
  • Potievsky (1)
  • Peri, Laszlo (1)
  • Pobokov, V. (1)
  • Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1)
  • Partridge, Bernard (1)
  • Quarella, Doris (1)
  • Ragan, Leslie Darrell (1)
  • Raleigh, Henry Patrick (1)
  • Rand, Paul (15)
  • Rast, H. (1)
  • Reichmonte, Giuseppe (1)
  • Reisenberg, Sidney H. (1)
  • Rennert, Jack (1)
  • Resnick, Elizabeth (1)
  • Rice, Burton (1)
  • Rittmark, Ake (1)
  • Rivers, Larry (1)
  • Robbe, Manuel (1872-1936) (2)
  • Rockwell, Norman (4)
  • Rohman, Eric (2)
  • Roland-Holst, Richard (2)
  • Rowe, Willyum (1)
  • Rozen, Jerome (1)
  • Rebeyrolle, Paul (1)
  • Riopelle, Jean Paul (3)
  • Ruano-Llopis, Carlos (1)
  • Rouvre, Yves (1)
  • Rodo-Boulanger, Graciela (1)
  • Rabotnitsky (1)
  • Radlov, Nikolai (2)
  • Rashatov (1)
  • Reshetov, v. m. (1)
  • Reid, Jamie (8)
  • Rogers, J. (1)
  • Roesch, Carl (1)
  • Ruegg, Ruedi (1)
  • Rambow, Gunter (21)
  • Renesch, Edward George (1)
  • Saito, Makoto (1)
  • Sarkisian, Petr (5)
  • Sato, Koichi (2)
  • Savary, Robert (3)
  • Savignac, Raymond (2)
  • Schaad, HP (1)
  • Schaeffer, Mead (1)
  • Schellenberg (1)
  • Scher, Paula (2)
  • Schiertz (1)
  • Schladfer, Hans (1)
  • Schlaikjer, Jes Wilhelm (2)
  • Schmidt-Rhen & Engelmann (1)
  • Schnackenberg, Walter (3)
  • Schraivogel, Ralph (10)
  • Schreiber, Georges (1)
  • Schuitema, Paul (1)
  • Schultess, Emil (2)
  • Scotford Jr., John Ryland (2)
  • Scott, Howard (1)
  • Sepo, (Severo Pozzati) (7)
  • Servais, Jacques (1)
  • Shepherd, Thomas H. (1)
  • Sheridan, John E. (2)
  • Siegriest, Louis B. (6)
  • Singer, David (21)
  • Sironi, Mario (1)
  • Skolos & Wedell (1)
  • Smith, B. (1)
  • Sokolov-Skalia, Pavel (5)
  • Solov'ev, M. (5)
  • Soubie, Roger (1)
  • Spagnoli, A. (1)
  • Spear, Gil (1)
  • Spring, J. (2)
  • Staehelin, Georg (1)
  • Starowiezski, Franciszek (1)
  • Stefano, G.D. (2)
  • Steinlen, Theophile-Alexandre (3)
  • Sterner, Albert (2)
  • Stevens, Leopold (1)
  • Stoecklin, Niklaus (6)
  • Studio E2 (1)
  • Swarte, Joost (1)
  • Shahn, Ben (1)
  • Schwabe, Nikolaus (1)
  • Steinberg, Saul (1)
  • Somorjai, Imre (1)
  • Spiro, Eugene (2)
  • Spoor, Mary Louise (1)
  • Schneider, Otto (1)
  • Smith, F. Berkeley (1)
  • Shostia (1)
  • Sarkisov, s. (1)
  • Smirnov, A. (2)
  • Savostikova (1)
  • Shevtsov, G. I. (1)
  • Staroshchuk, T. (1)
  • Surianinov, r. (1)
  • Simanov, V. (1)
  • Surianinov (1)
  • Sachkov, V. (7)
  • Sarg, Tony (1)
  • Smyslov, A. (1)
  • Sabinin, P (2)
  • Smith, Lawrence Beall (1)
  • Spiro, Georges (3)
  • Shuzi, Mo (1)
  • Sadowski (2)
  • Sarkisov, S. (1)
  • Sorensen, Eimen (1)
  • Schmandt, Hans (1)
  • Tapies, Antoni (2)
  • Taylor, Fred (2)
  • Terechkovitch, Constantin (1)
  • Thoni, Hans (1)
  • Thorn Prikker, J. (1)
  • Tittle, Walter (1)
  • Tomaszewski, Henryk (3)
  • Toorop, Jan (1)
  • Toussaint, Maurice (1)
  • Trapp, Willi (1)
  • Treidler, Adolph (2)
  • Trematore, Severino (1)
  • Troxler, Niklaus (33)
  • Turner, Michael (1)
  • Tuten, Randy (4)
  • Tema, Jos (1)
  • Ting, Walasse (2)
  • Tsarev, Yuri (1)
  • Tissi, Rosmarie (9)
  • Trubanov (2)
  • Till, Walter (3)
  • Tarasova, L. (1)
  • Tsvik, E. (1)
  • Terentiev, O. (3)
  • Treidler (1)
  • Treccani, Ernesto (1)
  • Tepper, Saul (1)
  • Testa, Armando (1)
  • Underwood, Clarence (1)
  • Urbaniec, Maciej (1)
  • Utrillo, Don Miguel (1)
  • Ubac, Raoul (1)
  • Usov, N. (1)
  • Uvarov, S. (2)
  • Valerio, Roger de (1)
  • van Dam, Peter (1)
  • Van Mens, Is. (1)
  • Vanderhem, P. (2)
  • Vantongerloo, George (1)
  • Vardimon, Yarom (1)
  • Velsen, Cor V. (1)
  • Venturino, Gianni (1)
  • Vidal, J.A. (1)
  • Vila, Emilio (1)
  • Villemot, Bernard (2)
  • Vincent, Rene (3)
  • Vogt, Armin (1)
  • von Kreibig, Erwin (1)
  • Von Spreckelsen, Johan Otto (2)
  • Von Stuck, Franz (2)
  • Vyalov, K. (2)
  • Vilato, Javier (2)
  • van Velde, Bram (2)
  • Vernet-Bonfort, Robert (5)
  • Vasarely, Victor (1)
  • Von Arensburg, Mark (1)
  • Vaganov, A. (2)
  • Vdovin, V. (2)
  • Veshtak (1)
  • Voronkova, Olga (1)
  • Valsamaki, V. D. (1)
  • Volkov, A. (1)
  • Vakhitov, Ivan (1)
  • Venard, Claude (1)
  • Veresha, A. P. (1)
  • Von Axster-Heudhass, Werner (2)
  • Vertes, Marcel (1)
  • Walkuski, Wieslaw (1)
  • Weingart, Wolfgang (1)
  • Weller, Don (1)
  • Werner, Franz J. (1)
  • Wetter, Trix (2)
  • Whitcomb, Jon (1)
  • Widmer, Jean (1)
  • Wiertz, Jupp (5)
  • Willette, Adolphe (5)
  • Wilson, Edward A. (1)
  • Wilson, Wes (4)
  • Wilton, Nicholas (1)
  • Windlin, Cornel (2)
  • Woodtli, Martin (1)
  • Willisegger, Othmar (1)
  • Winter, Fritz (1)
  • Wilquin (1)
  • Walkowski (1)
  • Walters, R. (1)
  • Youngerman, Jack (1)
  • Youker, P. (1)
  • Yran, Knut (1)
  • Yermakov, V. (2)
  • Zagrodzki, Christophe (1)
  • Zegler, Arthur (1)
  • Zelensky, B. (1)
  • Zaikova, o. (1)
  • Zaikin, a. (1)
  • Pre-1900s (56)
  • 1910s (139)
  • 1920s (158)
  • 1930s (211)
  • 1940s (177)
  • 1950s (189)
  • 1960s (275)
  • 1970s (251)
  • 1980s (346)
  • 1990s (215)
  • Black (824)
  • Brown (387)
  • Fuschia (4)
  • Green (566)
  • Orange (225)
  • Purple (119)
  • Silver (24)
  • Turquoise (5)
  • White (706)
  • Yellow (616)
  • Advanced Search
  • Home Page >
  • Subject Primers >

Travel Posters

Travel Posters

Explore our world-leading vintage Travel collection.

Railroads , ocean liners , and airplanes were among the technological marvels of the early 20th century that made pleasure travel feasible and luxurious, and they are often featured in vintage travel posters. These innovations sparked a Golden Age of Travel that would last - despite a Great War and a Depression - until the outbreak of World War II. The lithographic poster came into being just as the explosion in pleasure travel was dawning, and this new means of advertising was ideally suited to educate and tempt the consumer. Combining large images and bold text, the vintage travel poster was a uniquely effective medium to inspire travelers to see the world, and posters promoting every mode of transportation and destination became fixtures on the kiosks and the train stations of Europe and America.

Vintage travel posters are one of the most popular areas of poster collecting, providing a range of offerings that will suit every pocketbook and interest. More than any other poster category, they awaken our dreams of adventure, beauty and wanderlust. With the increasing rarity of desirable pre-WWII images by artists like Cassandre , Broders , Cardinaux , Fix-Masseau and Herbert Matter , interest in travel posters of the postwar period are now exploding in popularity.

France : Alo , Bernard , Boucher , Broders , Carlu , Cassandre , Colin , Commarmond , Constant-Duval , Dorival , Georget , Solon , and Soubie Switzerland : Baumberger , Buzzi , Cardinaux , Diggelmann , and Matter Italy : Borgoni and Nizzoli Britain : Cooper , Newbould , Purvis , and Thomas Germany : Etbauer , Fuss , Hohlwein and Wiertz United States : Binder , Eggleston , Galli , Klein , Lawler , McIntosh , and Nason Other : Nielsen & Rasmussen (Denmark), Northfield (Australia), ten Broek (Holland) and many more! Note - Most travel posters are roughly 27 x 40 inches. This international standard simplified distribution of travel posters in different languages for customers worldwide.

-> Shop our leading selection of Vintage Travel Posters .

Painterly view of walled city; blue, pink, brown

  • International Poster Gallery PO Box 67463 Chestnut Hill MA 02467-9998
  • P (617) 375-0076
  • [email protected]

Beautiful, Rare & Meaningful Posters from around the Globe.

  • New Arrivals
  • Gallery Tour
  • In The News
  • Gallery Exhibitions
  • Accessibility
  • Poster History
  • Collecting Posters
  • Country Primers
  • Style Primers
  • Subject Primers
  • Access My Account
  • Access My Wish List

© 1997-2024 International Poster Gallery

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

GET FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS $35 OR MORE!     US STANDARD SHIPPING ONLY

Classic vintage posters, vintage travel posters | hundreds of vintage maps, airline, and railway posters.

    CART

  • 1-800-222-7327
  • Image Licensing
  • Order Status

Dear Customers!

The Holidays are approaching fast but there is still time to receive your order in time!

After December 12 th we will not be able to guarantee delivery by Christmas Day using our Standard USPS Priority Mail service. Please select upgrades to FedEx shipping services.

Orders received after December 18 th FedEx shipping services will not guarantee deliveries by Christmas Day.

Thank You, The Pacifica Team

Labor Day Sale - Up to 25% OFF!

Frequently viewed and Most Popular Posters

Looking for the perfect poster to highlight the ambiance of your home or office we add dozens of new posters and prints every week creating one of the most expansive collections of vintage travel posters available anywhere. one way to get acquainted with our library is to peruse our most popular vintage art category which reflects the choices of our viewers for airline, railway and cruise ship travel, antique maps, as well as vintage tropical hawaii art..

tourist history poster

Worldwide Vintage Airline Travel Posters

Discover the entertaining art used by airlines around the world to entice us to visit faraway places travelling on their airplanes. with hundreds of selections our vintage airline travel category holds a huge, delightful collection of old aviation tourism posters from around the world. browse this collection and find that perfect poster to help you dream of that upcoming vacation..

tourist history poster

Vintage Cruise and Railway Travel Posters

From the age of classic travel advertising - railway, cruise and travel by rail advertising is highlighted in this generous collection of vintage railway travel posters and cruise ship travel art. these classic prints and posters still inspire the spirit of adventure to travel the world in the comfort of a cruise ship or railway..

tourist history poster

Vintage Tourism and Travel Destination Posters

From exotic, far-away tourist destinations like hawaii, australia, india, peru and mexico this fantastic gallery offers promotional art from romantic locales around the world. this delightful library will inspire you to visit classic cities such as venice, hong kong, los angeles, rio de janeiro and sydney..

tourist history poster

Classic Advertisement & Art Nouveau Posters

Advertising of food and drink is a major source delightful, vintage poster art. often in the art nouveau style this collection of promotional art features dozens of colorful prints of coffee, champagne, absinthe. these posters are perfect additions to the walls of your home or restaurant. enjoy this library featuring classic art deco, art nouveau food & drink prints and posters..

tourist history poster

Old Historical, Vintage & Antique Maps

Rare, old and unusual vintage traveler and explorer maps. vintage world maps from early 1500's through mid 1900's. vintage map prints, antique map posters, old world maps, historical maps and many maps of hawaii. vintage aviation maps, classic airline company route maps and even several celestial zodiac maps all exquisitely reproduced by classic vintage posters in a variety of sizes..

tourist history poster

Vintage Art by Kerne Erickson

A contemporary artist who has created his own unique, old "vintage" style of art. you'll enjoy visiting this presentation of kerne's fascinating, unusual art which often showcases vintage hawaii life with hula girls, surfing and other artistic depictions of life in the tropics. erickson has also created many beautiful paintings of vintage california life, beaches, parks and cities. prints and posters featuring cities such as cuba, paris and palm beach..

tourist history poster

Vintage Sports Posters

Browse through this attractive compilation of vintage sports artistry promoting games and sports around the world. prints and posters featuring the winter and summer activities, sports and surfing in the classic vintage style of promotional advertising. nearly 100 selections of vintage sports and many antique hawaiian surfing posters..

tourist history poster

Vintage Poster Art Other Collections

Tour our other collections of vintage art from movies, theater, religious, patriotic, classic fine art and much more. at classic vintage posters a great deal of time is spent in detailed reconditioning before printing using inks and paper which are always, and only, the very best available. all of our prints and posters are exquisitely reproduced using only the highest quality originals, and "state of the art" scanning and printing processes., our vintage posters.

The production process we follow when creating our posters begins by scanning the original artwork at ultra high resolution thus capturing every detail. Afterwards we perform digital restorations in order to bring these often stained, damaged or faded works back to their original brilliant glory. Our goal is to bring you classic, vintage art that we all can enjoy as posters or prints.

Giclée Museum Quality Prints

We use the most advanced printing technology available for all of our Giclée prints. The State-of-the-art 10-color Fine Art Epson Large Format Printer uses "archival quality", pigmented inks that are guaranteed to be fade-proof for 75 years. All of our posters are printed only on premium heavyweight paper stock and superior quality cotton canvas.

Master Art Digital Prints

We use the CANON-750, a digital printer that offers incredible color control at up to 2400 x 2400 dpi resolution. We print on Premium Silk Finish Coated Paper (8 mils thick) that is Bright White and has High Opacity.

WE OFFER A “NO QUESTIONS ASKED” MONEY BACK GUARANTY ON ALL PURCHASES WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM PURCHASE. SEE SALES POLICIES FOR MORE DETAILS.

Customer Satisfaction is our goal- please let us know if there is any problem with your order and we will try our best to make you a happy customer.

Posters History

The modern poster, as we know it, dates back to 1870 when the printing industry perfected color lithography. This delightful advance in art allowed the whole new art form of color posters to flourish. Advertising agencies were quick to exploit the new poster art style. Most of our vintage poster art was designed for or popularized by the advertising industry. Today it is easy to appreciate this classic artwork, and display it in our homes, through the prints and posters Classic Vintage Posters makes available for you.

Since the late 1800's the tourism and travel industry has used color poster art to communicate the advantages of a particular holiday destination or mode of travel. Railways, cruise lines and airlines created many visually attractive and compelling travel posters which Classic Vintage Posters has found and reproduced for all of us to enjoy. Reproductions that are every bit as stunning and brilliant as the originals, sometimes over a hundred years old, are now economically available in a variety of sizes.

Our Products

Our production process begins by scanning original artifacts from the period at ultra high resolution thus capturing every detail. Afterwards we perform digital restorations in order to bring these often stained, damaged or faded works back to their original glory. After proofing and color correcting the quality of the reproduction print matches the original accurately in every aspect.

We use the most advanced printing technology of the 8-color EPSON Fine Art Printer which applies Archival Quality, Pigmented Inks guaranteed to be fade-proof for 75 years . We print on Premium Heavyweight paper stock and Superior quality cotton canvas .

We use the CANON-750 , a digital printer that offers incredible color control at up to 2400 x 2400 dpi resolution. We print on Premium Silk Finish Coated Paper (8 mils thick) that is Bright White and has High Opacity.

WE OFFER A “NO QUESTIONS ASKED” MONEY BACK GUARANTY ON ALL PURCHASES.

Pacifica Island Art, Inc.

Green Olive Arts

A History of Travel Posters

A History of Travel Posters

Special thanks to Serenity Stitchworks today for the following guest post on the history of travel posters. Morocco has long been a favorite travel destination, as evidenced by the abundance of vintage travel posters that were created. Visit our Green Olive Arts Moroccan Travel Posters board on Pinterest to see some of our favorite travel poster works of art.

travel

  “Posters reflect our culture and are like visual graphic icons of the times  in which they were created.”  ~  Robin Shepherd, travel poster collector.

Travel posters not only advertised travel destinations, they were used by hotels, airlines, railroads and tourism companies to graphically represent themselves to the public. Many of them were considered works of art and ranged in style from art nouveau to mid-century modern.

Railroads, ocean liners and airplanes, the technologic marvels of the early 20 th  century, inspired pleasurable and luxurious travel, and gave people the freedom to explore the world. This sparked the “Golden Age of Travel” which lasted until the outbreak of World War II.

aeropostale

At the same time the lithographic printing process was developed which was ideally suited to producing posters. They combined large images with bold text and were a very effective medium to inspire travelers to explore the world. They were prominently displayed on kiosks and in the train stations of Europe and America.

In 1935, the gigantic ocean liner,  S.S.   Normandie,  was   launched, which inaugurated a new era in transatlantic travel. It set new standards of luxury, speed, steadiness, comfort and safety. It was the largest liner afloat and was different in almost every respect. It was a new kind of ocean liner and was considered the epitome of luxurious travel.

Then came the era of intercontinental air travel. This began after World War II and afforded travelers a more timely arrival at their destination.

Tangier

This was a boom time for travel posters, and they could be found everywhere. Since then, they have undergone many transformations in design. At first they were a jumble of images and text and crowded with information. By the early 1900s, Hugo d’Alesi (France), Emile Cardinaux (Switzerland) and Adolfo Hohenstein (Italy) simplified the travel poster by using fewer details which added power to the message. By the 1920s, A. M. Cassandre, his pupil Fix-Masseau, Tom Purvis, Frank Newbould and other artists transformed the travel poster from illustration to symbol. Posters continue to evolve with new methods and ideas and will always be a major part of our world.

We can quickly jet across the globe today; and sadly, the romanticism of travel has been lost. Perhaps the best place for inspiration comes from the past. The old days of travel and exploring foreign lands was left to the select few who could afford it, and the rest were left to dream.

Travel posters are one of the most popular areas of poster collecting today. More than any other poster category, they awaken our dreams of adventure, beauty and wanderlust.

Some of our favorite Travel Posters can be see at the following link: Travel Poster Patterns

Find anything you save across the site in your account

New York City Travel Posters Through the Decades

A poster depicting the New York Central Building lit up at night.

New York has long loomed large in the traveller’s imagination, most notably in the olden, jet-setting days when getting there was half the fun. A new book, “ Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters ,” out this month, coupled with a forthcoming exhibit at Poster House, presents a compelling history of New York City tourism through travel posters. In the retrospective, which starts at the close of the nineteenth century and takes us through the decades, ocean liners give way to airplanes, graphic styles evolve, and skyscrapers climb ever higher. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, one of the recurrent visual symbols of the city, the Twin Towers, fell. New York City tourism declined, and, even as it recovered, the tradition of printed posters had passed its prime. But the images, some of which are gathered below, remain. Together, they depict a cumulative dream of a city forever in motion, still beckoning to be discovered. — Françoise Mouly & Genevieve Bormes

A performer dives into the ocean at Coney Island Water Carnival.

This is drawn from “ Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters .”

New Yorker Favorites

They thought that they’d found the perfect apartment. They weren’t alone .

The world’s oldest temple and the dawn of civilization .

What happened to the whale from “Free Willy.”

It was one of the oldest buildings left downtown. Why not try to save it ?

The religious right’s leading ghostwriter .

After high-school football stars were accused of rape, online vigilantes demanded that justice be served .

A comic strip by Alison Bechdel: the seven-minute semi-sadistic workout .

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

Charles Addams’s “Ascent”

20% off all products!   Sale ends tonight at midnight EST.

Pixels

  • Featured Artists
  • Featured Collections
  • Featured Brands

Search

Tourist History Posters

1 - 72 of 50,237 tourist history posters for sale

Arrow Down

Results: 50,237

Scroll to Top of Page

  • Canvas Prints
  • Framed Prints
  • Metal Prints
  • Acrylic Prints
  • Wood Prints
  • Throw Pillows
  • Fleece Blankets
  • Duvet Covers
  • Shower Curtains
  • Bath Towels
  • Hand Towels
  • Coffee Mugs
  • Men's T-Shirts
  • Men's Tank Tops
  • Women's T-Shirts
  • Women's Tank Tops
  • Long Sleeve T-Shirts
  • Sweatshirts
  • Kid's T-Shirts
  • Baby Onesies
  • iPhone Cases
  • Galaxy Cases
  • Portable Battery Chargers
  • Greeting Cards
  • Weekender Tote Bags
  • Zip Pouches
  • Jigsaw Puzzles
  • Beach Towels
  • Round Beach Towels

Totes & Pouches

Many Hues by Steve Henderson

Soft Palette

Manarola by Inge Johnsson

European Photography

Interiors Of A Museum, National Museum by Panoramic Images

Panoramic Images

The Tourists by Carmine Chiriac??

Art Licensing

Natural History Museum by Manjik Pictures

691 Designs

Histric  Alfama District , Street by Earth Pixel LLC

488 Designs

Lights Along the Causeway by Andrew Matwijec

Andrew Matwijec

A Step Above  by Marvin Spates

Marvin Spates

Gondolas Under Bridge of Sighs by Good Focused

Good Focused

The Alamo Mission in San Antonio by Randall Nyhof

Randall Nyhof

Roman Statues On The 'terrace Of Infinity' Looking Over Atrani And The Amalfi Coast At The Villa Cimbrone Gardens, Ravello, Campania, Italy by Lost Horizon Images

Image Source

1555 Designs

Many Hues Poster

Browse millions of fun stickers designed by independent artists from all over the world.

View Stickers

Istanbul Poster

Products: | NumProducts: | Page List: | Tags: | Available Products: | Available Mediums: | Available Shapes: | Canonical Tags: | Date / Time Expiration: 09/05/2024 11:59:59 PM

Images of Venice

Home » Blog Posts » History of Travel Posters.

History of Travel Posters

History of Travel Posters. This post covers historical aspects and includes a representative selection of Venetian examples.

The advent of the lithographic poster coincided with the burgeoning era of leisure travel, offering an ideal medium to both inform and allure potential travelers.

These posters offer a captivating glimpse into the social and cultural evolution of the 20th century, tracing the shifts in tourism, societal norms, art, architecture, and fashion.

As the 20th century unfolded, artists elevated the travel poster from mere illustration to iconic status, with vintage examples now treasured as collectibles of significant worth.

Travel Poster History Venice Travel Posters: My Pick Links (internal-external)

“ Posters reflect our culture and are like visual graphic icons of the times in which they were created .”   Robin Shepherd, travel poster collector.

Travel poster history.

Travel posters served not just as advertisements for destinations but also as graphic representations for hotels, airlines, railroads, and tourism agencies. They aimed to forge an immediate connection with the observer, inspiring dreams of countryside excursions, seaside retreats, or overseas holidays.

These posters reflected the evolving trends in tourism, society, art, architecture, and fashion, offering intriguing glimpses into the social and cultural history of the 20th century.

Regarded as art pieces, their styles spanned from art nouveau to mid-century modern. At the peak of their popularity, numerous graphic and fine artists lent their talents to craft visuals that would lure the work and war-fatigued populace into taking vacations.

Above all, travel posters stirred our yearnings for adventure, beauty, and wanderlust, or simply the desire to break free from the daily grind.

tourist history poster

Above: Early railway and exposition poster styles, crowded with information – a complexity of images, text and type-faces.

Railroads, ocean liners and airplanes, the technologic marvels of the early 20th century, inspired pleasurable and luxurious travel and gave people the freedom to explore the world. This sparked the “ Golden Age of Travel” which lasted until the outbreak of World War II.

The lithographic poster came into being, just at the dawn of the explosion in pleasure travel and this new means of advertising, was ideally suited to educate and tempt the consumer.

Posters were first utilised in countries such as Great Britain, France and the Netherlands during colonial times; for advertising large exhibitions, attended by both the trade and public.

At first, posters were crowded with information – a complexity of images, text and type-faces (images above); but later developed into simplified, idealised and more graphic images of these new and fascinating colonial lands.

By the early 1900’s, illustrators and artists such as Hugo d’Alesi (France), Emile Cardinaux (Switzerland) and Adolfo Hohenstein (Italy), produced more visually powerful imagery, to put across the message. By the 1920’s, A. M. Cassandre, his pupil Fix-Masseau, Tom Purvis, Frank Newbould and other artists; transformed the travel poster from illustration to symbol.

Large graphic images with bold text and were a very effective medium to inspire travellers to explore their own country and the world; being prominently displayed in the railway stations and kiosks of Europe and America.

In 1935, “ S.S.   Normandie”  the  first large ocean liner , was   launched, inaugurating a new era in transatlantic travel. It set new standards of luxury, speed, stability, comfort and safety and was considered the epitome of luxurious travel.

tourist history poster

Next, came the  era of intercontinental air travel.  This began after World War II and afforded travellers a more convenient, reliable and timely arrival at their destination.

Left: In the 1960’s photographic images were incorporated into poster design.

Today , air travel allows us to circumvent the globe in around 24 hours. The pandemic crisis, has sadly removed much of the romanticism and relaxation of travel. Perhaps our changing and uncertain world and the growth of the internet and social media; has made us nostalgic, for a more simple and settled time. This is reflected the growth of vintage travel posters; one of the most popular areas of poster collecting; providing artwork, to suit every pocket and interest.

Posters, no doubt, will continue to evolve with new methods and ideas and will always be a part of our world.

My Pick of Great Posters

Looking through the selection, you can see changes in the posters development:

  • Complexity/crowding v simplicity of information and type faces.
  • Traditional to modern imagery – representation to abstraction and symbolism.
  • Stressing the graphic qualities – line, shape, form, colour, texture.
  • Colour boldness and colour blocking.
  • Illustration to art form.

tourist history poster

LINKS (internal – external )

  Other posts in the category “History of Venice”

Lido di Venezia: Part 1

60 years of British Railway Posters       Great brief guide to British “old school” railway posters.

Venice Travel Poster – Etsy UK

You Tube video on Travel Poster History

History of Travel Posters    History of Travel Posters    History of Travel Posters

  • Acqua Alta and the Mose Project
  • Art Music Literature (General)
  • Depicting Venice in Art
  • Festivals-Regattas-Events
  • Food & Drink
  • Foreign Artists in Venice
  • Garden History
  • Getting Around-Basic Terminology
  • History and Architecture
  • History of Venetian Glass
  • History of Venice
  • Introduction to Venice
  • Islands of the Lagoon
  • My Favourite Churches
  • Palace Architectural Styles
  • Photographing Venice
  • Potions and Medicines
  • Scuole Grandi of Venice
  • The Doges of Venice
  • The Gondolas of Venice
  • The Grand Canal
  • The Jewish Ghetto
  • The Lagoon and Ecosystem
  • The Venetian School of Music
  • Venetian Artists-18th C
  • Venetian Wells – Drinking Water
  • Venice Carnival
  • Venice Districts & Attractions
  • Venice Museum Guide
  • Visitor Taxes – Responsible Tourism

Pin It on Pinterest

ADSNY Logo.jpg

Member Login      |      Renew a Membership     |      Ma ke a Donation

A New Way of Seeing:

History of deco travel posters, by jack rennert & david a. schneider.

1. Anton.jpg

Graf Zeppelin, Hamburg-Amerika Linie, c. 1932, Ottomar Anton, Printer: Erasmusdruck, Berlin

2. Air France.jpg

Air France/Golden Clipper, 1933, Albert Solon, Printer: France-Affiches, Paris

3. Air France 2.jpg

Air France, Paris London, 1938, Roger de Valerio, Printer: Perceval, Paris

4. Hugon.jpg

Air Fer, 1936, Roland Hugon (1911-?), Printer: Editions Paul-Martial, Paris

“One’s destination,” wrote Henry Miller, as he vagabonded his way through Greece in the 1930s, “is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” In fact, the entire Modernist project was about seeing old things in new ways. “Make it new!” cried Ezra Pound. Modigliani, Brancusi, and Henry Moore seized upon the idea, taking the forms of ancient Cycladic art from the Aegean, and stripping away the ornamentation of the nineteenth century to create an aesthetic for the twentieth.

Travel for pleasure had once meant the Grand Tour: a ramble through the historic sites of Europe for the edification of aristocratic young men. (Consider it a gap year that lasted three and a half years.) As medical practice evolved in the late nineteenth century, doctors recommended travel as a necessary part of physical rehabilitation — “taking the waters” at the spa to treat rheumatism or tuberculosis. But the early twentieth century saw the reinvention of travel and touring.

The Need for Speed

What changed? For starters, just as in our own time, everything suddenly got faster. The latter half of the nineteenth century had experienced the introduction of the bicycle — which transformed personal mobility — followed before long by the internal combustion engine, the automobile, and the motorcycle. Steamship companies began competing for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing. Eventually travelers took to the skies. For most people, however, the great signifier of speed was the railroad. Between the 1910s and the mid-1920s, the top speed of rail travel doubled — to 100 miles per hour.

As railroads began to conquer the Alpine passes, mountaineering societies swelled. Cable-cars, pioneered during the First World War for the Italian Alps campaign, became symbols of the avant-garde. In a remarkable convergence, during the 1920s and 30s, cars, trains, airplanes, zeppelins, and ocean liners all competed for a growing and changing market. Obliged to sell their services, they turned to posters suggestive of speed and experience.

In October 1928 the zeppelin offered the world’s first commercial trans-Atlantic flight — from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey. In 1932, the Graf Zeppelin began five years of shuttling travelers between Berlin and Buenos Aires, the “Paris of the South,” in a three-day route that radically accelerated the standard airship itinerary, while retaining ocean-liner standards of luxury. A poster for the Graf Zeppelin by Ottomar Anton (German, 1895-1976) embodied the zeppelin’s futuristic luxury.

In 1933, Albert Solon (French, 1897-1973) designed the first, and now rarest, advertisement for Air France, created that year by a merger of several French airlines. Air France offered travelers an astonishingly quick 95-minute ride from Paris to London. In 1938, having shaved 20 minutes off that flight time, the airline issued an exceptionally clever poster by Roger de Valerio French, 1896-1938), suggestive of the speed of change.  

10. Cassandre 2.jpg

Statendam, 1928, A. M. Cassandre (1901-1968), Printer: Nijgh E Van Ditmar, Rotterdam

11. Lauro.jpg

Trouville, 1927, Maurice Lauro (1878-?), Printer: Imp. Devambez, Paris

5. Danemark.jpg

Danemark, c. 1935, artist unknown, Printer: S.L. Mollers, Bogtrykkeri

8. Welsh 2.jpg

Pullman/Speed to Winter Playgrounds, 1935, William P. Welsh (1889-?), Printer: Charles Daniel Frey, Chicago

Making Connections

Some of the most dramatic images of the era began to envision travel, for the first time, as a multimodal network. In 1936, Roland Hugon (1911-?) used a photomontage of railroad tracks, combined with the flat colors and precise geometries of peak Art Deco aesthetics, to promote a brilliant one-ticket deal: a straight shot from the rails to the wings to the sky — “You leave one, you board the other” — in an idea of seamless travel that even today seems hyper-modern.

Likewise, the exhilaration is palpable in Dänemark , an anonymous 1935 work for the Danish Railway, which depicts a train and ship fusing together into one gigantic apparatus dedicated to collapsing spacetime. The poster emphasizes the emergence of a mechanical age. During the last gasps of the pre-industrial period, in the Romantic age of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, explorers experienced the sublime in the beauty and terror of nature, overpowering all things. By contrast, the Art Deco travel poster found the sublime in the enormous constructs of human manufacture. Enormously tall skyscrapers, impossibly large steamships, or unstoppable locomotives — all became objects of awe and veneration, symbols of power and elegance with which one could adorn oneself, like fashionable clothing, and use them, wield them, to conquer the heights and traverse the great spaces of the world.

With so many choices and modes of travel, women — who had tasted their first real freedom of movement with the bicycle in the 1890s — became travel-advertising targets for the first time. The Chicago-based Pullman Company commissioned from William P. Welsh (American, 1889-1984) a high-Deco series of posters,1935-36, which concentrated on women's independent travel to "winter playgrounds." Welsh also painted the murals for the Chicago Room in that city’s famed Palmer House Hotel.

No one better expressed the power, awe, and mystery of this new transportation age than Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron (1901-1968), a Ukrainian émigré to Paris who took the nom de plume of A. M. Cassandre and now regarded as one of the five greatest poster artists in history. His poster for the S.S. Normandie , justly celebrated at the time of its printing, has become the premier icon of the entire Art Deco period.

Among the many other Cassandre Art Deco travel posters, one in particular deserves mention: his 1928 work for the S.S. Statendam , announcing service between Holland and America. Perhaps the most outrageously counterintuitive of Cassandre’s major posters, it doesn’t make much sense at first. It’s arresting, of course, as Cassandre’s own rules for advertising state: “You cannot stop people in the street and explain the advantages of this or that product. You must catch them by surprise and buttonhole them without their even realizing it.” But the poster doesn’t even appear to illustrate the tagline “for real comfort.” Cassandre faced a specific problem: the Statendam was magnificently appointed — but in 17th-century Dutch and Louis XVI style, with Gobelin tapestries and Dutch Old Master oil paintings. How could a poster faithfully sell newness and real comfort given accommodations more suitable for the ancien régime?

14. Broders1.jpg

La Plage de Calvi. Corse, 1928, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. Lucien Serre, Paris

Since the Holland-America line connected the Old World to the New, Cassandre sought inspiration in American Modernism. By luck, he found the perfect model: Boatdeck , a painting by American expatriate artist Gerald Murphy.

Young, wealthy, and fashionable, Gerald Murphy and his wife Sara epitomized the artistic and literary expatriate avant-garde of the Jazz Age. Sara, a great beauty, was a muse to both Fitzgerald and Picasso, while Gerald was taken under the wing of Diaghilev, Cocteau, and especially Léger, who became Gerald’s mentor. The couple later inspired the characters Dick and Nicole Diver in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night .

17. Cote d'Azur.jpg

Ete sur la Cote d’Azur, 1930, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. de Vaugirard, Paris

In 1924, Boatdeck became the star of the Salon des Indépendants in Paris’s Grand Palais. A 13-foot-tall Modernist masterpiece, it eschewed any image of prow, profile, or shuffleboard-playing patrons, focusing instead on a stark and potent view of smokestacks and ventilators that Murphy created from over 60 photos he took on multiple cruises. Many art critics have noticed the similarity between Cassandre’s and Murphy’s work. Cassandre, though, appropriated these aesthetic choices for a purpose. The Statendam boasted extraordinary ventilation systems: twenty-four thousand feet of piping carried fresh air escorted down ventilators by 76 large electric fans. The real comfort, Cassandre’s poster says in an instant, is from this machine, shown as shockingly new through Modernist aesthetics.

Murphy’s Boatdeck survives only in a black and white photo from the 1924 Salon, and in Cassandre’s interpretation of the painting for the Statendam .

Sea, Sand, Sun

Trying to capitalize on the new caché of the post-war Riviera, destination for the Lost Generation’s smart set, towns on the French coast began to compete for well-heeled visitors, leading to what many consider the greatest Art Deco travel poster of the 1920s: Trouville .

This 1927 work by the virtually unknown Maurice Lauro (French, born 1878) perfectly epitomizes the fusion of travel and fashion. Trouville had been France’s first resort town, a favorite destination of Monet, Flaubert, Proust, and Duras — but had become overshadowed by Deauville, a preferred haunt of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Lauro’s poster pays homage not to the fashionable celebrities, but rather to the growing cult of sunbathing. At the dawn of the twentieth century, John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of cornflakes, had strongly promoted the health benefits of exposure to sun and water in his sanatorium. His advocacy of sunbathing sparked a movement that truly began burning brightly when, in 1923, Coco Chanel stepped out with a tan. The age of the beach vacation had begun.

15. car.jpg

Le Tour du Mt. Blanc, 1927, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. Lucien Serre, Paris

16. Vichy ses Sources.jpg

Vichy/Ses Sources, 1928, Roger Broders (1883-1953), Printer: Imp. Lucien Serre, Paris

Probably the most stylized Deco example of beach worship from the entire period is the 1929 La Plage de Monte Carlo by Michel Bouchaud (French, 1902-1965). Like so many other commercial artists of the period, Bouchad served in World War I. Unlike so many others, however, he demobilized in Algeria, where the crispness of the Mediterranean light inspired artistic epiphanies. The Monte Carlo poster is one of only a handful he designed; he normally worked on far smaller scales such as labels for jewelers and chocolatiers.

As Fred Gray suggests in Modernism on Sea: Art and Culture at the British Seaside (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009), the beach-and-poolside scene was marketed — and in essence, became — a stage for those who would have previously been in the audience. Nothing better displays that trend than Southport by Fortunino Matania (Italian, 1881-1963). In this poster, Matania fuses classical forms with Renaissance ensemble figure arrangements to present a classic piece of Art Deco, one in which each individual figure and interaction is meaningful and emotive. 

For escapes to the Mediterranean seaside or to the mountains, however, the unrivaled master of the Deco “destination” poster is Roger Broders (French, 1883-1953), who, more than anyone else, balanced the flat color panels and composed geometries of typical Art Deco styling with spots of detail, creating an intense, almost hyperreal effect.

12. Bouchaud.jpg

La Plage de Monte Carlo, 1929, Michel Bouchaud (1902-1965), Printer: Publicity Vox

13. Matania.jpg

Southport, c. 1928, Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), Printer: London Lithographic co., London

Broders had several "periods" over a stunningly short ten-year-long career working as a poster artist, 1922 to 1932. His earliest work, from 1922 through 1924, is largely landscape impressionism in a Modernist frame. But by 1927, he reached the graphic avant-garde with works such as Le Tour du Mont Blanc , which seizes the cut-out geometries of Soviet Constructivism. His 1928 Vichy ses Sources sources its own energy from Italian Futurism. Broders is at his best, however, at the L'Ete sur la Cote d’Azur , which fluidly communicates a continuity of artistic styles. In this work, Broders reached the apex of his style: the graceful organic forms of trees with the ideal geometries and primary colors of the coast — as if to say, "travel itself is an art, if done well: seeing things in a new way."

About the Author:

Jack Rennert, recognized as the foremost authority on poster art, has lectured and published widely on the subject, organized poster exhibitions, and in 1984 founded Poster Auctions International (PAI). He owns and operates Rennert’s Gallery, specializing in posters, at 26 West 17th Street in New York City.

David A. Schneider  is the Editorial Director for Rennert’s Gallery / PAI, where he researches and writes PAI’s auction catalogues.

Article originally published in the Art Deco New York journal, Vol. 3, Issue 2, Winter 2018. View a digital version of the full journal  here.

history of travel poster

Belle époque travel poster.

Largely due to the development of the transport system in the 19th century , a huge growth in the tourist industry occurred in the Alps and in all European touristic regions. From 1890, railway companies , tourist locations and several hotels began printing the first genuine travel posters, featuring cog-railways or idyllic scenery, depicted in a romantic style. These lithographs are harmonious compositions bringing together scenic views of the region. They include illustrations of characters from folklore and a time-table or geographical map, usually linked together with golden frames and floral patterns.

tourist history poster

Chemin de fer du Nord, Saison d'été.

1890 circa – JAPHET

Swiss Travel Posters

In 1908, inspired by the visually powerful work of Ferdinand Hodler , the painter Emil Cardinaux designed an avant-garde poster for Zermatt . Drawn in a style, rather daring for its time, it is a monument to the beauty of the Matterhorn (Cervin) , blazing with color and overhanging a valley cast in shadow.

The image is reduced to its most essential form of expression and no excess detail is allowed to interfere with the aesthetic value of the subtle play of color, enhanced by the lithographic printing process. Cardinaux' s revolutionary poster freed the tourist poster from any realistic constraints and created a more dynamic graphic language. This poster would later influence numerous Swiss artists for decades.

Swiss travel poster >

tourist history poster

Zermatt, Matterhorn 4505m Schweiz.

1908 – Emil CARDINAUX

CHF 25000.–

Art Deco travel

During the nineteen twenties and thirties, the specialized curved line used by the Romantic and Art Nouveau movements was replaced by a new form of graphic design, essentially based on the use of the straight line. Originating from the formal accomplishments of Cubism and Futurism (geometric forms, dynamism, structure and contrasting colors), graphic artists created posters of rare intellectual purity using vivid colors and highly stylized forms. This is the Art Deco period.

The best known travel poster artist is the Frenchman, Roger Broders with his gorgeous travel posters in his ‘Art Deco Chic’ style. All over Europe many other designers also produced beautiful Art deco scenery. The Cubist style of the period can be seen in many posters advertising air travel or transatlantic trips, such as the poster for the ship “Normandie” in 1935 by A.M Cassandre .

tourist history poster

Zermatt Gornergrat, Suisse

1928 – Eric De COULON

Art Deco Chic

Artist like Roger Broders , George Barbier or René Vincent came up with the style Art Deco Chic: magnificently slender women from high society wearing Chapeaux cloches (bell-hats) accompanied by greyhounds proposing luxury cars or skiing and golfing holidays.

tourist history poster

Mont-Blanc, Sports d'hiver, Au Col de la Voza par St-Gervais, chemin de fer du Mont-Blanc, PLM

1929 circa – Roger BRODERS

POSTERS CREATED BY PAINTERS

Before the war the posters of Exhibitions, evoke sadness as being created in black white and being produced by less means. After the war, Paris became an important center of artistic creation and the rise of the Ecole de Paris led the painters to create posters.

Among others, Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler drew three or four posters, Henri Matisse created tourist posters such as Nice, Travail et Joie (1947) and Pablo Picasso created a beautiful tourist poster for the Côte d'Azur In 1962. The "Pop Art" artist Roy Lichtenstein drew cultural posters such as Aspen Jazz Festival (1967) or Minnesota Theater Company, Merton of the movies (1968), similarly, Keith Haring , who created Frankfurt, Theater der Welt (1985) with shapes surrounded by black with brightly colored on which the characteristic figures of the artist "Street Art" can be recognized.

tourist history poster

Côte d'Azur

1961 – Pablo PICASSO (after)

ARTISTIC TRANSPORTATION POSTERS

Transportation companies changed their strategy and called on well-known painters to create posters. This is the case of Air France , which relied on French artists in order to create aviation posters that promoted travel destinations: "the poster is considered a work of art, as an element of the history of art. Air France gives the opportunity to perceive (its posters) as something other than simple advertising objects or calls for the consumption, affirming that they must be regarded as creations".

Victor Vasarely drew the poster Air France South America (1946), a masterpiece of kinetic art that provides the viewer the optical illusion of a Lockheed Constellation flying over the calm water, of which we perceive only the lapping, caressed by the grazing light of the sunset.

tourist history poster

Air France, Amérique du Sud

1946 – Victor VASARELY

Guy Georget drew several posters with geometrically stylized landscapes in bright colors, as in Air France, Greece (1963). Georges Mathieu also created a series of posters in a very expressive, almost abstract manner via his Air France Great Britain (1968) poster on which one recognizes the traditional hat of Horse Guard.

According to the artist, this poster shows "the folklore in all its evidence, the embroideries, and the coat of arms". We could characterize his masterpiece as « gestural painting » through the process of Action Painting, Mathieu has captured the essence of the cultural traits of each country. Roger Bezombes drew a series of 16 posters for the Concorde , Air France by plane, Vie du monde (1981) including a large envelope with a 17th poster that presents the complete series. These posters illustrate the themes of: Gastronomy, Islands, Exoticism or Freedom. Bezombes mixed painting and collage for the production of this poetic, allegorical series, which flirts with surrealism and systematically resumes in the background the colors of the French company.

tourist history poster

Air France, Grèce

1959 – Guy GEORGET

Jacques Garamond, known as Nathan , creates the Air France Japan poster (1963) illustrating Mount Fuji, through the window of a typically Japanese interior, at the foreground a thin lantern of paper rendered by a subtle gradation of colors. Between 1956 and 1964 he created stylized drawings in colors a bit "flashy" but with a great visual efficiency.

tourist history poster

Visitez les Alpes avec les trains et les autocars de la Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français

1958 – Jacques NATHAN-GARAMOND

Aviation is not the only means of transport that relied on the effectiveness of posters; the railways also order posters from artists. For instance, Salvador Dali created a series of 6 posters for the French Railway Company, including Roussillon SNCF (1969), illustrating also the silhouettes of the Angelus of Millet, or Normandie SNCF (1969). The latter, portrays the legendary places of Normandy, such as the beaches of the English Channel or Mont Saint Michel, juxtaposed with the surrealist symbols, recurring in the work of the Catalan painter such as soft faces, supported by crutches or even The butterflies: "everywhere they are only spots that squirt, explode, crackle and all this inkwell fireworks to end on a gigantic signature of the master just as proud as his mustache is tapered."Guy Georget created an illustrated and photographic poster in a very "seventies" composition that promotes a bus company in Europabus, a pleasure to discover Europe (1972). SNCF, batch-kilometer bonds (1975) or Young people under 21, travel through Europe with Interrail (1974) are two illustrated posters that use Guy Georget 's codes, multicolored colors as well as Cubist geometric shapes.

tourist history poster

1969 – Salvador DALI

FIFTIES AND MODERNISM 1945-1960

The end of the Second World War marks a decisive turning point in the poster's history. Indeed, a wind of hope was blowing at Europe being in the midst of reconstruction and themes such as leisure, health and relaxation appear in the posters from 1945 onwards. The message disseminated by the posters addresses the mere promotion of a landscape or a service; it seeks, hence, to convey emotional values.

For example, popular holidays become a favorite subject of French artists, Bernard Villemot with his poster Vichy Mai-Octobre (1953), Paul Colin or Vincent Guerra promote holiday destinations and spas, through stylized posters And colored. Humor and the world of childhood and recklessness are also involved in the poster of the 1950s, in the work of Raymond Savignac with his poster Eutectic (1958) or Hervé Morvan . The spirit of the fifties is light, it captures the newness, so the sun, sport, and wellbeing become the favorite themes of European posters.

tourist history poster

Vichy, Mai-Octobre

1953 – Bernard VILLEMOT

Photographic Travel Posters

From around 1920, photography began to replace drawing methods in some Swiss travel posters . These photographic posters were composed either of only one photograph or of a photo-montage ( Herbert Matter , Walter Herdeg ).

tourist history poster

Engelberg - Trübsee

1936 circa – Herbert MATTER

Travel in the fifties

If formerly, posters advertised the material and functional aspects of tourism (better transport, etc.), the year 1945 saw the appeal of more leisurely pursuits, concentrating on the benefits of Sport, health and relaxation. In post-war years such themes answered the need for a changed outlook on life.

Lithography, which required several weeks work to print a poster design, was superseded during the 1950s by the much more profitable and speedy process of the offset. Today, all of those travel posters are in great demand, both as historical and iconographical documents of a certain region, and as original works of art that are ideal for the decoration of an office, chalet or in the home.

» See tourist posters from the 40s and 50s

» See tourist posters from the 60s and 70s

tourist history poster

St.Moritz les bains, second edition

1958 – Martin PEIKERT

[email protected]

tourist history poster

KoaWood Ranch Conservation

Because of customers like you, we plant more trees.

Free Shipping on Purchases of $100 or more

KoaWood Ranch Logo Header

What Are Travel Posters?

27 Aug, 2020

One of the great things about living in Hawaii is the accessibility to great scenery, landmarks, and points of interest. When I opened our KoaWood Ranch gift store I knew I wanted to provide the tourist with a visual memento of these great sites. Hawaii's travel posters were the obvious choice. But what are travel posters?

Travel posters were originally made for advertising purposes. They were used by hotels, airlines, and the tourism industry as a means to represent themselves to the public during the time when travel was booming.

Travel posters have since evolved and have become collectibles, souvenirs, and vacation remembrances.

In the process of researching for this article, I was surprised to learn that travel poster collecting is one of the most popular areas of poster collecting. The world of travel posters is full of history and cultural relevance. Travel posters are considered works of art.

Where did it all start?

Vintage Hawaii Posters

Between 1900 to about the 1950s, television didn’t exist. Posters served as a primary way of advertising. Magnificent colors and beautiful artistry brought to life the joy and feel of travel.

Posters that featured technologic marvels of the early 20th century, like railways, airlines, and boats, were capable of capturing a sense of adventure and exploration. They inspired luxury travel and a feeling of freedom that would entice people to book trips.

How did travel poster collecting begin?

Art collectors often collected for the artist, so when famous artists began working on travel posters, collectors included these works in their assemble. That, added with beautiful graphics, charming scenery, and exotic locations that would come to symbolize an important travel experience in someone’s life (e.g. vacation, honeymoon, etc.) , inspired many people to acquire, collect, and deem these posters as works of art.

What are the types of posters?

Generally speaking, there are 3 types of travel posters, original vintage posters, reproductions, and contemporary production pieces.

Original vintage travel posters are exactly what the title implies, these are the actual works from the early days of travel poster making. Needless to say, these are some of the most expensive works for many reasons. They are delicate and originally intended to be ephemeral collateral, therefore they are rare and highly collectible. Prices range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to many thousands.

Unlike an original vintage travel poster, which is typically a lithograph, reproduction is usually a photocopy of the original poster. Many older poster designs are now in the public domain, hence there is a market for those seeking illustrations of the early day of travel posters. However, there is little to no collector value in reproductions. That said, they are an alternative to paying a lot of money to decorate your walls with original artwork.

Kailua Kona Poster

When I designed our Hawaii travel posters for KoaWood Ranch, I was most interested in capturing island sites that I knew would have sentimental value with visitors and Hawaii aficionados. They make great souvenirs and gifts. The ones I designed for the KoaWood Ranch store happened to be some of my favorite places in Hawaii, including Kailua-Kona, the Volcano, and the town of Hilo.

What is the most common travel poster size?

Original travel posters are typically in the range of 25 to 28 inches wide and 35 to 40 inches high, with some exceptions. This is on the large size and makes sense for what they were originally intended for; advertisements in public places like kiosks and railways.

Reproductions range in sizes and are made to suit personal preferences.

Contemporary travel posters also have a range of sizes but I typically find that they are on the smaller side, like 11” x 17” or 12” x 18”. Personally, I find that the smaller sizes are more suitable for where and how they will be used. Our Hawaii travel posters typically end up in homes and offices, and people often buy more than one to create a series. These smaller sizes allow for a small collection to be displayed on a wall without crowding out space even when the posters have been framed. How to frame a poster?

Travel Posters Today

Hawaii Poster

Travel posters have evolved over the years. They are rarely printed for advertising purposes and now exist primarily for collecting and aspirational purposes. They serve to decorate walls. Unlike other categories of poster collecting, travel posters inspire desires for adventure and travel. This is perhaps why travel posters are one of the more popular areas of poster collecting.

Not having any knowledge of what travel posters were or conscious awareness of their significance at the time, I remember buying my first travel poster in Spain. It was of a famous bullfighter. I bought the poster not because of the bullfighter but as a symbol of my experience in Spain and the emotions of being at the bullfight. It was my first international traveling experience.

With the intent of re-creating the opportunity to capture Hawaii island experiences, KoaWood Ranch posters aim to invoke the memories, and emotions that the Hawaii island culture inspires.

Craig Villarrubia

Sign up to stay linked to new product, updates at the ranch, and receive special offers.

Stay Connected

Join our list! We send out quarterly updates with information on new products, promotions, and what's happening at the ranch.

Age verification

By clicking enter you are verifying that you are old enough to consume alcohol.

  • Kitchen & Barware
  • Accessories

Shopping Cart

Your cart is currently empty..

Winter is here! Check out the winter wonderlands at these 5 amazing winter destinations in Montana

  • Travel Guide
  • Arts & Culture

10 Must-Visit Contemporary Art Spaces In Berlin That Will Surprise You

Published: September 2, 2024

by Cordelia Oliveira

10-must-visit-contemporary-art-spaces-in-berlin-that-will-surprise-you

Berlin, a city known for its rich history and vibrant culture, has become a hotspot for contemporary art lovers. Whether you're an art enthusiast or just curious, Berlin offers a variety of contemporary art spaces that will leave you inspired. From cutting-edge galleries to innovative street art, there's something for everyone. Imagine wandering through a gallery filled with thought-provoking installations or stumbling upon a hidden mural in a bustling neighborhood. These art spaces not only showcase incredible talent but also reflect the dynamic spirit of Berlin. Ready to dive into the world of modern art? Let's explore the top 10 must-visit contemporary art spaces in Berlin.

Berlin's Vibrant Art Scene

Berlin is a city that thrives on creativity and innovation. Its contemporary art scene is a testament to this, with numerous spaces dedicated to showcasing cutting-edge works. Here are ten must-visit contemporary art spaces in Berlin that will surprise you.

1. Hamburger Bahnhof

Once a railway station, Hamburger Bahnhof now stands as one of the most important contemporary art museums in the world. Its vast halls host works from the likes of Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys.

2. KW Institute for Contemporary Art

Located in the heart of Berlin, KW Institute for Contemporary Art is known for its experimental exhibitions. This space pushes the boundaries of what art can be, making it a must-visit for any art enthusiast.

3. Berlinische Galerie

Berlinische Galerie combines modern art, photography, and architecture. Its unique collection spans from the early 20th century to the present day, offering a comprehensive look at Berlin's artistic evolution.

4. C/O Berlin

C/O Berlin is a haven for photography lovers. This space showcases works by both emerging and established photographers, making it a dynamic and ever-changing gallery.

5. KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art

Housed in a former brewery, KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art offers a unique setting for its exhibitions. The industrial backdrop adds a distinct character to the contemporary works displayed here.

6. me Collectors Room Berlin / Olbricht Foundation

me Collectors Room Berlin is home to the Olbricht Collection, one of the most significant private collections in Europe . This space offers a diverse range of contemporary art, from paintings to installations.

7. Sammlung Boros

Sammlung Boros is a private collection housed in a former World War II bunker. The contrast between the brutalist architecture and the contemporary art creates a striking experience for visitors.

8. Galerie Eigen + Art

Galerie Eigen + Art has been a staple in Berlin's art scene since the early 1990s. Known for discovering and promoting young artists, this gallery is a great place to see the future of contemporary art.

9. König Galerie

König Galerie is located in a former church, adding a spiritual dimension to its exhibitions. The gallery focuses on contemporary art that challenges and inspires, making it a must-visit.

10. Urban Spree

Urban Spree is a cultural hub that combines art, music, and events. Its outdoor murals and indoor galleries showcase the best of Berlin's street art scene, offering a raw and authentic art experience.

Berlin's Art Scene Awaits

Berlin's contemporary art spaces offer a rich tapestry of creativity and innovation. From the cutting-edge exhibits at KW Institute for Contemporary Art to the immersive experiences at Sammlung Boros, there's something for every art lover. These venues not only showcase world-class artists but also provide a platform for emerging talents. Exploring these spaces, you'll find a mix of traditional galleries , experimental installations , and interactive exhibits .

Don't miss out on the unique experiences each location offers. Whether you're a seasoned art enthusiast or just curious, Berlin's art scene promises to inspire and surprise. Plan your visit, dive into the vibrant world of contemporary art, and let Berlin's creativity captivate you. Your next art adventure is just around the corner.

TouristSecrets

  • Privacy Overview
  • Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

7 Best Desert Towns In Arizona

4

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

  • Arizona is home to spectacular deserts, each with unique attributes and rich history
  • Sedona offers spiritual experiences amidst stunning red rocks and extensive outdoor activities
  • Discover small desert towns like Patagonia, Wickenburg, Tombstone, and more.

Home to the Grand Canyon, one of the most beautiful U.S. destinations , Arizona is just as vast, diverse, and breathtaking as its most iconic landmark. Beyond the Grand Canyon, the state is full of scenic attractions just waiting to be explored. From its beautiful waterfront towns to snow-capped peaks to rushing rivers, and pristine lakefront sandy stretches, the Grand Canyon State has a lot to offer.

Arizona is home to some of the most spectacular deserts in North America; the Sonoran Desert, which's vegetation is believed to be North America's most diverse, is the most popular. But the Chihuahuan and the Mojave deserts are also fascinating in their own ways. These deserts are dotted with small towns that are not only rich in desert views, but also history, culture, art, unique shopping, and more. Here are the best desert towns in Arizona.

Shhhh: Quietest Destinations You Can Visit In Arizona

Skip popular cities like Phoenix and Scottsdale and find respite in one of the quietest places in the Grand Canyon State instead.

This town is a spiritual mecca and an outdoor destination with breathtaking red rocks

Located in the Upper Sonoran Desert, at the lower end of the iconic Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona is one of the most beautiful towns to visit in Arizona . The town is famous for being a spiritual mecca , where travelers from around the world go to seek spirituality and relaxation amidst a spectacular desert landscape.

It's a premier destination for outdoor enthusiasts known for its red rocks, and its new hiking trails are worth traveling to Arizona . Rock climbing, picnicking, meditating, mountain biking, and sunset watching are other fun ways to explore Sedona’s stunning red rocks.

6 Patagonia

Explore this year-round outdoor haven with unique shopping opportunities.

Nestled between the Santa Rita Mountains and the Patagonia mountains, Patagonia is a high desert town with plenty of fun experiences. It’s a very active year-round outdoor destination with impressive hiking, camping, mountain biking, birdwatching, and horseback opportunities.

Whatever you're into, whether that's low-key local attractions or some of the most thrilling adventures nearby, you won't get bored in Patagonia. The town also comes with unique shopping experiences from art galleries to gift shops to plant nurseries.

5 Wickenburg

Enjoy beautiful desert views, outdoor recreation, and rich history in this jewel of the sonoran desert.

A small Arizona town that feels just like the Wild Wild West , Wickenburg is known for its rich history that dates back to 1863 , making it the fifth-oldest town in the Grand Canyon State. As part of the Sonoran Desert, Wickenburg boasts breathtaking desert views and plenty of options for outdoor recreation. It's home to a vibrant downtown area, where you can stroll through historic buildings, have a unique dining experience, and explore unique shopping.

10 Small Arizona Towns Perfect For Introverts

Looking for quiet? Try these small Arizona towns, perfect for introverts! From Bisbee to Jerome, there's a place for those seeking peace.

4 Tombstone

Tombstone offers a rich wild west history and plenty of options for outdoor recreation.

Famous for the Gunfight of the O.K., one of the most notorious gunfights in American history, Tombstone is home to the Oriental Saloon , which opened in 1880, as well as the Tombstone Epitaph , Arizona’s oldest newspaper, which offers an opportunity to learn about the history of the Wild West.

Apart from being rich in Old West history, Tombstone has amazing options for outdoor recreation, from wildlife viewing to hiking and horseback riding to swimming, boating, and fishing. It also boasts a thriving arts scene with multiple shops and galleries, including the Tombstone Art Gallery . With so much to offer, Tombstone is one of the best desert towns you can visit in Arizona.

Tombstone is one of the most haunted small towns in the Wild West, and you can explore its dark side by booking one of these ghost and vampire tours .

Explore this desert town’s rich history and outdoor recreation

The Gateway to the Grand Canyon, Williams, is one of the best desert towns in Arizona. It's surrounded by breathtaking mountain scenery and offers a wide variety of attractions.

Originally a mining town, it has a long history that began in the 1870s, and history buffs will be delighted to stroll along Route 66 as they discover amazing historic buildings, classic diners, and curio shops. Surrounded by the Kaibab National Forest, the town is a paradise for outdoor adventures, including hiking, fishing, camping, mountain biking, and more.

If you're looking to retire in a scenic place near a national park , look no further than Williams. This town offers retirees many perks, including affordability, a low crime rate, a peaceful atmosphere, and breathtaking scenery near Grand Canyon National Park.

Bisbee boasts an undeniable charm, thanks to its rich history, breathtaking scenery, and outdoor recreation

Bisbee is the most charming town in Arizona for many reasons, including its vibrant culture, thriving arts scene, and long, beautiful history. You can catch a glimpse of its mining history by taking the Copper Queen Mine Tour or visiting the Lavender Pit.

Strolling down its streets, decorated with beautiful Queen Victoria homes, delicious restaurants, and unique shops guarantees a memorable experience. The town’s charm also comes from its endless options for outdoor recreation, from hiking to mountain biking to horseback riding.

7 Cutest Mountain Towns In Arizona

Escape the Arizona desert heat and savor the cuteness of its adorable and quaint little mountain towns!

Explore this town’s rich history, outdoor recreation, and unique dining scene

Nestled on Route 66, Winslow is famous for its rich history that can be traced back to 1822 when it was discovered as a divisional terminal of the Santa Fe Railway. It’s also rich in Native American culture, thanks to its rich Navajo and Hopi culture.

Apart from getting an insight into the town’s fascinating history, you can explore plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation, including fishing, swimming, hiking, and picnicking. You’ll also come across multiple unique places to eat and art galleries. With a cost of living index of 97.9% , Winslow is also among the most affordable small towns to live in Arizona .

Arizona

COMMENTS

  1. Meet The Artists Behind Your Favourite Vintage Travel Posters

    A brief history of the travel poster 19th-Century. Modern posters were born in the mid-nineteenth century when a few planets aligned. The first was the development of printing technology, which allowed for mass production of colour images ("mass" being a relative term to today's standards).

  2. The Extraordinary Story of Iconic American Travel Posters

    To inspire American tourism, artists created posters showcasing cities, museums, monuments, zoos and other wonders of the American landscape. Arguably the most iconic posters of all, though, touted one of America's greatest treasures: its spectacular national park system. Vintage Posters of the National Parks Artist C. (Chester) Don Powell

  3. Tourist History Poster

    Check out our tourist history poster selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our prints shops.

  4. Free to Use and Reuse: Travel Posters

    Faraway states, natural wonders and beautiful beaches—these settings often come to mind when we start to plan vacations. They also form the backdrops for hundreds of travel posters in the Library's collections. Learn more about these travel posters. Browse more content that is free to use and reuse.

  5. Tourist History Posters

    Choose your favorite tourist history posters from 43,309 available designs. All tourist history posters ship within 48 hours and include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

  6. Selling the Dream: The History of the Travel Poster

    Following the war, travel posters created in the late 1940s and 1950s opted for more serene and inspirational views of landscapes and cityscapes of potential destinations. Many well-known artists got their start during this period by lending their art to publishers of travel posters. This period was a time for growth in the travel industry.

  7. What is the History of the WPA Posters?

    The WPA posters of the 1930s and 1940s hold a special place in American history, serving as a testament to the nation's efforts to pull through the Great Depression. Today, these iconic posters have been revived in , breathing new life into the timeless designs and enabling a new generation to appreciate these artistic masterpieces.

  8. Vintage travel posters from the Golden Age of Travel

    Vintage Travel Posters. Step into a journey through time with our collection of vintage travel posters from the Golden Age. Each scan is subtly retouched, preserving its unique vintage charm for digital reproductions on museum-quality matte paper. Explore the elegance of 19th and early 20th-century travel in our curated selection.

  9. A journey through time: the captivating history of travel posters

    The origins of travel posters can be traced back to the late 19th century when the invention of lithography revolutionised the printing industry. This innovative printing technique allowed for mass production of colourful images at a relatively low cost, making it ideal for advertising purposes. Initially used for promoting products and events ...

  10. The History and Evolution of Vintage Travel Posters: Exploring the

    The history of travel posters dates back to the late 19th century when advances in printing technology, particularly colour lithography, made it possible to produce vibrant, eye-catching images at an affordable cost. This development coincided with the expansion of railway networks and the growth of the tourism industry, creating a demand for ...

  11. Vintage Travel Posters

    United States: Binder, Eggleston, Galli, Klein, Lawler, McIntosh, and Nason. Other: Nielsen & Rasmussen (Denmark), Northfield (Australia), ten Broek (Holland) and many more! Note - Most travel posters are roughly 27 x 40 inches. This international standard simplified distribution of travel posters in different languages for customers worldwide.

  12. Vintage Travel Posters Prints and Maps by Classic Vintage Posters

    Rare, old and unusual vintage traveler and explorer maps. Vintage world maps from early 1500's through mid 1900's. Vintage map prints, antique map posters, Old world maps, Historical maps and many maps of Hawaii. Vintage aviation maps, classic airline company route maps and even several celestial zodiac maps all exquisitely reproduced by ...

  13. A History of Travel Posters

    This was a boom time for travel posters, and they could be found everywhere. Since then, they have undergone many transformations in design. At first they were a jumble of images and text and crowded with information. By the early 1900s, Hugo d'Alesi (France), Emile Cardinaux (Switzerland) and Adolfo Hohenstein (Italy) simplified the travel ...

  14. New York City Travel Posters Through the Decades

    A new book, "Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters," out this month, coupled with a forthcoming exhibit at Poster House, presents a compelling history of New York City tourism ...

  15. Tourist History Posters

    Choose your favorite tourist history posters from 43,488 available designs. All tourist history posters ship within 48 hours and include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

  16. Popular Tourist History Posters & Prints

    Personalized Tourist History posters & prints from Zazzle! Find thousands of posters and print sets from modern artwork or vintage designs. Make your own poster using our FREE design tool!

  17. Tourist History Posters for Sale

    Unique Tourist History Posters designed and sold by artists. Shop affordable wall art to hang in dorms, bedrooms, offices, or anywhere blank walls aren't welcome.

  18. 30 Beautiful Vintage Travel Posters For You To Ogle Over

    Source: Diesel Punks. This poster wants you to know that Ireland is "the land of eternal youth", as well as a great place to travel by train. Source: Diesel Punks. While impressionistic and colorful, it's difficult to tell what the artist's vision was as far as attracting travelers was concerned. Source: Diesel Punks.

  19. History of Travel Posters.

    History of Travel Posters. This post covers historical aspects and includes a representative selection of Venetian examples. The advent of the lithographic poster coincided with the burgeoning era of leisure travel, offering an ideal medium to both inform and allure potential travelers. These posters offer a captivating glimpse into the social ...

  20. History of Deco Travel Posters

    The Chicago-based Pullman Company commissioned from William P. Welsh (American, 1889-1984) a high-Deco series of posters,1935-36, which concentrated on women's independent travel to "winter playgrounds." Welsh also painted the murals for the Chicago Room in that city's famed Palmer House Hotel. Cassandre.

  21. Travel Poster History

    From 1890, railway companies, tourist locations and several hotels began printing the first genuine travel posters, featuring cog-railways or idyllic scenery, depicted in a romantic style. These lithographs are harmonious compositions bringing together scenic views of the region. They include illustrations of characters from folklore and a time ...

  22. What Are Travel Posters?

    Original travel posters are typically in the range of 25 to 28 inches wide and 35 to 40 inches high, with some exceptions. This is on the large size and makes sense for what they were originally intended for; advertisements in public places like kiosks and railways. Reproductions range in sizes and are made to suit personal preferences.

  23. 10 Best Art Galleries In Tokyo

    Kazu_small_dis, via Instagram. Established in 1928, Gallerie Nichido is known as Japan's oldest Western-style art dealer. The gallery handles a wide range of genres, including oil paintings, sculpture, and prints, and exhibits the works of hundreds of deceased and living artists from Japan and abroad.Throughout its long history, it has handled the works of many well-known artists and has ...

  24. 10 Must-Visit Contemporary Art Spaces In Berlin That ...

    Berlin, a city known for its rich history and vibrant culture, has become a hotspot for contemporary art lovers. Whether you're an art enthusiast or just curious, Berlin offers a variety of contemporary art spaces that will leave you inspired. From cutting-edge galleries to innovative street art, there's something for everyone.

  25. 7 Best Desert Towns In Arizona

    Located in the Upper Sonoran Desert, at the lower end of the iconic Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona is one of the most beautiful towns to visit in Arizona.The town is famous for being a spiritual mecca, where travelers from around the world go to seek spirituality and relaxation amidst a spectacular desert landscape.. It's a premier destination for outdoor enthusiasts known for its red rocks, and its ...