Object Details

Sponsor

Alleghany Airlines Inc.

Physical Description

Offset Photolithograph: Photographic reproduction of color photo of war memorial with inset of Fort McHenry with American flag flying; blue, brown and red tones on paper.

Summary

Fly Now: The National Air and Space Museum Poster Collection

Throughout their history, posters have been a significant means of mass communication, often with striking visual effect. Wendy Wick Reaves, the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery Curator of Prints and Drawings, comments that "sometimes a pictorial poster is a decorative masterpiece-something I can't walk by without a jolt of aesthetic pleasure. Another might strike me as extremely clever advertising … But collectively, these 'pictures of persuasion,' as we might call them, offer a wealth of art, history, design, and popular culture for us to understand. The poster is a familiar part of our world, and we intuitively understand its role as propaganda, promotion, announcement, or advertisement."

Reaves' observations are especially relevant for the impressive array of aviation posters in the National Air and Space Museum's 1300+ artifact collection. Quite possibly the largest publicly-held collection of its kind in the United States, the National Air and Space Museum's posters focus primarily on advertising for aviation-related products and activities. Among other areas, the collection includes 19th-century ballooning exhibition posters, early 20th-century airplane exhibition and meet posters, and twentieth-century airline advertisements.

The posters in the collection represent printing technologies that include original lithography, silkscreen, photolithography, and computer-generated imagery. The collection is significant both for its aesthetic value and because it is a unique representation of the cultural, commercial and military history of aviation. The collection represents an intense interest in flight, both public and private, during a significant period of its technological and social development.

Inventory Number

A19960333000

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

ART-Posters, Original Art Quality

Medium

Poster, Advertising, Commercial Aviation

Dimensions

2-D - Unframed (H x W): 88.9 × 56cm (2 ft. 11 in. × 1 ft. 10 1/16 in.)

Country of Origin

United States of America

See more items in

National Air and Space Museum Collection

Data Source

National Air and Space Museum

Metadata Usage

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv929a5e2b8-e02a-4d05-8524-0b1d8c2f7338

Record ID

nasm_A19960333000