The new collection of vintage travel posters has proved to be a great hit on our recently launched home decor site Poster Forest
We have selected a few of our favourite designs from countries that we have been to and others we would love to visit. These posters are from a bygone era when the journey was part of the adventure. Designed as adverts used to entice people to explore exotic locations by rail, sea and air they are now popular as home decor.
Chosen from our curated collection of wonderful wooden wall art.
Our Top 10 Vintage Travel Posters!
1. Vacations Unlimited
This 1947 poster by an unknown designer was published by the Canadian Government Travel Bureau. I particularly like the fact all the animals seem to be smiling and a dog which looks as though it is wearing glasses and smoking a pipe
2. Speed comfort and regularity
A new Zealand Union Airways poster from 1939. I love the cut image of the aircraft. You can only dream of legroom like that nowadays. Speed comfort and regularity nowadays seem to have been replaced by Low fare headlines. Union Airways was, from 1936, the largest New Zealand airline, and began a scheduled inter-island service on 16 January 1936. In 1938, it merged with East Coast Airways, with financial backing from the Union Steam Ship Company.
3. Visit Cuba
Who wouldn’t want to visit Cuba with such a joyous colourful poster? This Vintage travel poster From the Cuban Tourist Commission is from 1950 was designed by Conrado Walter Massaguer and shows a Cuban Dancer with Maraca’s. We love the simplicity of this version however there was a modified design that had the words “So near and yet so foreign. 90 miles from Key West.”
4. Transatlantique. French Line
Cie. Gle. Transatlantique. French Line was founded in 1861 as a postal service. It became famous in the 1910s and ’30s with the launch of prestigious ocean liners such as the SS Paris and in 1962 the Famous SS France. Unfortunately, competition from the airlines saw her retried from service in 1974 The Liners offered the untimely luxury way to travel the world. This poster is Illustrated by Paul Colin, 1937.
5. Ship of the Desert TWA Egypt poster 1960
Although known as the ships of the desert an altogether more basic and less comfortable way to travel than the ocean liners above. This Egypt poster was created circa 1960 by the gifted American artist David Klein for TWA. Klein is best remembered for the iconic travel images he created for Howard Hughes and Trans World Airlines (TWA) during the 1950s and 1960s. TWA was once one of the worlds largest airlines. TWA (Trans World Airlines) was formed in 1924 as Transcontinental & Western Air. The airline’s first route was from New York to Los Angeles, soon followed by multiple National routes. The airline started a decline in the 1970s that ended up in a third bankruptcy that caused their acquisition by American Airlines in 2001.
6. City of New York Municipal Airports poster
This poster was created by the WPA Federal Art Project in New York City to promote New York’s municipal airports, circa 1937. At the time there were Floyd Bennett Field and North Beach, East River Seaplane bases, Wall Street and 31st Street. Have a better pick?
7. Oaxaca Mexico.
Mexicans in traditional ceremonial dress perform a dance as two girls watch. Illustrated by Miguel Covarrubias for the Mexican department of tourism in 1943. Miguel Covarrubias, also known as José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, illustrator, ethnologist and art historian
8. The Great Barrier Reef
This poster, produced by the Australian National Travel Association in the early 1930s by the artist Gert Sellheim. I can’t help but feel that it would have been a much more spectacular place to visit in the ’30s. A dream destination opening up a world that few people had seen. The poster features a stylised, art deco style design of three fish, three islands and three palm trees with the addition of some coral and seaweed.
9. New York by TWA 1958
Illustrator David Klein started working for Howard Hughes’ Trans World Airlines (TWA) in the 1950s. He created posters that embodied the spirit of post-war air travel. The neon colours used by Klein jump out of the page as a Lockheed L 1049 Super Constellation glides past in the night sky
10. Summer in Italy poster
Summer in Italy poster. Oranges and lemons sit on the beach next to the bow of a fishing boat. Italian vintage travel poster. Illustrated by the Italian artist Alfredo Lalia, 1951. A different vibe to the bright lights of New York All these vintage travel posters come to life when they are printed on sustainable wooden prints.
You can check out these and many more designs at Posterforest.com
