Disappearing art form?

[John Kasaian]

Cruised through Borders today and came across Swissair Posters by Georg Gerster. You might remember these beautiful aerial shots advertising for Swissair several decades ago. It occurred to me that the whole reason for travel posters---to advertise travel ---has gone the way of travel agencies since the dawn of the internet. Does his strike anyone else as being kind of sad?

[MIke Sherck]

Yep. Travel has been commoditized, stripped of romance and mystery, and become just a quick way of getting from A to B. And commercial travel has become decidedly uncomfortable as well.

While I remember the Swissair posters you referred to, I fell in love with older, drawn/painted graphics. And propaganda! My daughter and I both get a trememdous kick out of old Soviet propaganda posters. And Alphonse Mucha. *Sigh* Posters used to be art. Now they're just boring. You don't see posters on the street any more, just Star Wars collectables for your wall.

mjs

[domenico Foschi]

yes, but aren't flights cheaper now so that we can go take more pictures in more places?
I agree on the old soviet posters, in fact their style has been copied and still is by many graphic designers.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

In the same spirit but in black & white, up to the seventies in all French trains you had in each compartement a series of nice pictures advertising for France. Not only Mont-Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame-de-Paris but also many of our most beautiful villages and natural landscapes.
Among photographers who worked on contract for the French National railway company (SNCF), there was Willy Ronis (now 96) one of the beloved French photographers specialist of Paris life in the 1930's-1960's like Robert Doisneau.
Another form of art, advertising for travel, were giant mural paintings. There is still one in good condition in Paris, at Gare-de-Lyon station, the painting evokes all the destinations of trains (now : high-speed-train) to SW France (Lyons, Marseilles, and the Riviera)

[Greg Lockrey]

I have a friend who used to work for a shipping company in the 50-70's and he used to do travel posters of different countries. One of his more famous shots was of a Spainish Matador.

[MenacingTourist]

You don't see posters on the street any more,
mjs

I guess this depends on where you live. Original poster art for concert venues is alive and well but to see them on the street you have to be in the right places. To see what rock posters are like these days check out www.gigposters.com. I'm not affiliated with GP only in that I love it.

Russian propaganda posters are wonderful as is/was the poster designers from Poland, the Chech Republic and Germany. I love that stuff.

Alan.

[Robert Hughes]

On the Washington DC Metro subways there are plenty of posters of faraway places - but usually with military hardware in the foreground. Only place I've ever lived where they advertise battle helicopters on the public transit!