National Geographic has posted a selection of WPA sponsored Great Depression era posters created as promotions for the nation’s national parks.
There are no artist credits, and the selection is small, but the posters are graphically beautiful.
You can see more of these, though reproduced much smaller, on the Ranger Doug’s site, where they are offered as modern posters.
[Via BoingBoing]
Fun posters – silk-screen prints, I believe and I was saddened to not see that kind of information provided on the National Geographic site.
This post led me to think about two things from years ago.
“See The USA in your Chevrolet” I’m sure most who remember this remember it from the TV commercial jingle. If I remember correctly, along with the TV spots there were full page ads in newspapers and magazines along with posters in the dealerships and some of that art was a play on the classic travel posters. Selling travel became using travel to sell your product. As a kid back in the 60s I got a kick out of that concept.
Then in the 70s I got another laugh when I saw two or three Air Force recruiting posters with shots of the air-lifter over popular landmarks and the slogan “See the USA in a C-5A!”
Now I’m remembering more of those old ad campaigns. Anyone else remember “It’s ugly, but it gets you there”? That’s what I like most about this blog. The entries get me to thinking about things and I never know where that thinking will lead me.
There is someone marketing contemporary park posters using the style of the originals. I’ve seen them in the framing section of our local Ben Franklin.
These look great! I wish there were larger images available to get a closer look at how these were printed.
I was just in two of the parks featured in those prints, and did some drawings with the intention of working a couple into woodblock prints. These offer a nice visual perspective.
Wow, these posters are amazing! I love the style of this time, today, we have an overdoze of visual stimulation – that’s why simple is so appealing.
Hi Charley,
what a good taste you have choosing artist. I like very very much the things you show us into your blog. Thanks!
So simple so beautiful – that’s art.
You can get high res versions of at least some of these via the Library of Congress site:
http://www.loc.gov. Search for National Park Posters. Some have not been digitized but some have. Just work your way through the first 10 or so links.
The print has a meta data page with a link to the actual graphics file.
I downloaded a very large tif (4k x 5k) of the Zion poster from
http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.13400/
Wow. Thanks. I had done a brief search on loc.gov with the same thought, but didn’t find them.
