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Article: Resurgence of Travel Posters: Nostalgia for a Golden Age

Resurgence of Travel Posters: Nostalgia for a Golden Age

The Golden Age of Travel Posters

read the full article and more on art, travel and design at our editorial (substack)

From the 1920s through the 1960s, travel posters were more than advertisements. They were works of art that shaped how the modern world imagined itself. Before photography and social media, posters became the visual language of aspiration. They distilled destinations into symbols, gave form to wanderlust, and offered a vision of elegance, optimism, and possibility.

This period marked a rare moment when art and travel converged. Railways, airlines, and ocean liners commissioned artists to capture entire worlds in line and color. Cities and coastlines became icons. Mountains and rivers were transformed into bold forms. Typography itself carried the personality of each destination.

For travelers of the time, these posters were invitations. For us today, they are windows into a cultural moment when travel carried mystique and style.

Vintage Travel Posters as Vision

In the early twentieth century, travel was aspirational. A rail journey through the Alps or a cruise across the Mediterranean was not only movement but a way of living. Posters reflected this. They were not literal views of places. They were abstractions of desire.

Artists stripped detail to emphasize feeling. A block of blue suggested the Riviera. A curve of coastline evoked the Mediterranean. A skier in motion became a symbol of freedom.

The message was clear. Travel was not an option. It was the natural extension of a modern life.

Art Deco Travel Posters and Imagination

The design language of vintage travel posters is unmistakable. Strong compositions. Clean silhouettes. Saturated color fields that gave landscapes the glow of dream.

Typography was integral. Deco lettering for ocean liners. Flowing scripts for seaside towns. Bold sans-serifs for alpine escapes. Text and image became inseparable.

Artists such as Roger Broders painted the French Riviera in planes of light and shade, distilling leisure into form. A.M. Cassandre fused Art Deco glamour with modernist geometry, transforming ocean liners and railways into icons of progress.

These works condensed entire worlds into a single image. They were.... read more on Etre Studios' editorial on substack 

 

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