A century of Art Deco design on the London Underground is being celebrated in a new exhibition at the LT Museum.
Marking the centenary of the 1925 Paris exhibition, where Art Deco originated, the exhibition is both a look at the poster designs and a celebration of the many women artists who created them.
Over one hundred posters and artworks by design greats Edward McKnight Kauffer, Dora Batty, and Jean Dupas have been pulled from the archives for display, many not seen in exhibitions for many years.
It’s also not just archives from the deep past, as it includes modern reinterpretations of the Art Deco style, with posters by the likes of Paul Catherall and tube maps by Maxwell Roberts.
Some photos of the attempted streamline design for what would become the 1938 tube stock include one I’ve never seen before – off to the archives for me then.
A touchscreen game lets you select and rank posters by their art deco-ness, and let’s say my selection and the top-ranked posters didn’t align.
Although naturally focused mainly on London’s public transport, the exhibition also includes a sample of travel adverts from other countries to give a bit of European flair to the space.
Quite amusingly, for an exhibition about posters, one of the posters is advertising an exhibition about posters — held at the V&A Museum in 1931. How very meta.
The exhibition will open on 21st November 2025 and run until spring 2027.
Entry to the Global Poster Gallery is included with London Transport Museum admission.
