Over 100 London Underground posters feature the Botanical Gardens at Kew. The posters are as diverse as the artists that created them. Among the artists that produced Kew related posters include A.A. Moore, Dora Batty, Wilfred Wood, Irene Fawkes, F Gregory Brown, Rojanovsky, Charles Sharland, Emilio Tafani and Betty Swanwick.
Frank Pick and London Transport
At the turn of the 20th century, the London Underground was considered overcrowded and dirty. Some would agree that it still is. To attract users there was a desperate need to change the public’s perception of the Underground. That change was to be made by Frank Pick.
It was Pick, first as commercial manager of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London from 1912, then as managing director of the Underground Group, and finally as chief executive officer and vice-chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board from 1933 to 1940, who created, branded and built the infrastructure of transport in London as we know it today.
In 1908, Pick became Publicity Officer for UERL. Despite a lack of experience, his passion for design and his forward-thinking vision made Pick perfect man for the job. Over the next 30 years Pick’s influence, with the assistance of General Manager Albert Stanley, would turn the fortunes of the UERL and transform the company.
The pair began by developing a strong corporate identity and visual style for which the London Underground is still renowned. Pick commissioned the calligrapher Edward Johnston to create a new typeface to replace the variety of letter styles used by the Underground’s previously separate companies. The sans serif typeface the calligrapher designed is a clear, easily read font known as Underground Railway Block. It is now better known simply as Johnston.
The font design was quickly followed in 1917 with the redesign of the now world-famous roundel or bulls-eye logo. The roundel began as a design by Albert Stanley. It depicted a solid red disk with a blue bar. It was affectionately named the ‘bullseye’. However, Pick wasn’t fully satisfied with the design and sketched his own version turning the solid circle into a ring. Pick then commissioned Edward Johnston to turn the idea into a working design.The final design incorporated Johnston’s new typeface on the bar and circle design which was registered as a trademark in 1917.
The branding exercise was soon extended to the company’s architecture and livery. In the 1920s Frank Pick recruited the talented architect Charles Holden. He was employed to design new Underground stations and reconstruct existing ones. During the 1930s, Holden begins to include the new roundel into his designs for station interiors. The logo would begin to appear outside stations, on platform furniture, bus stop signs and shelters. His station designs for London Underground became the corporation’s standard design influencing designs by all architects working for the organisation in the 1930s. Many of his buildings have been granted listed building status.
One of the greatest innovations in the London Underground’s history was the Harry Beck’s tube map. Beck was a London Underground employee who devised a simplified map with stations in his spare time! His schematic design was as revolutionary as it was inspired. However, the map was initially rejected as being too radical. London Underground was also sceptical of his proposal since it was an uncommissioned spare-time project. A successful trial print-run proved that the instantly clear and comprehensible chart was just what the public wanted. The Underground map was an instant success and it became another successful advance in Frank Pick’s transformation of London’s transport system.
London Underground Posters
Possibly the most influential aspect of Frank Pick’s Underground branding strategy was his approach to poster design. Before Pick took charge of advertising, Underground posters were mostly text only, informational prints that were incoherent and difficult to comprehend. They were also produced in a mish-mash of sizes and shapes pasted onto any surface in station buildings and platform walls.
Pick chose to make some changes. First he standardised poster sizes. He minimised the amount of text to be included and insisted on the use of the newly created Johnston typeface to ensure legibilty. He also controlled the amount of posters on display and controlled their positioning.
Pick also realised that it would be far more advantageous to focus on the aspirational places and events London had to offer than the actual reality of the journey or the underground railway itself. Taking inspiration from his travels across Europe, and the railway posters he saw abroad Pick realised it was important to use talented artists to create the posters. He also considered that the variety of posters would be important in order to maintain the inerest of the Underground’s passengers. To ensure this variety Pick would commission publicity posters from dozens of different artists producing designs in many different art styles.
Frank Pick and the posters created for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) are the beginning of British travel or tourism posters in Britain. Pick’s pioneering role as Britain’s greatest patron of poster art had a huge influence on other transport companies and on railway companies in particular. It wasn’t long beforetheGreat Western Railway (GWR), London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and Southern Railway (SR) were following Frank Pick’s lead.
The synopsis of Oliver Green’s book Underground Art states “In its heyday of art patronage, the company was displaying as many as 40 new works a year. Artists were given the greatest possible scope for self-expression, and worked in every subject and style. The stations and platforms of the Underground became the biggest art gallery in the world – featuring over the years more than 3000 original posters.
Form an orderly Kew!
We can’t deny it… we love the fact that this fabulous Kew Gardens poster was created by an artist named Gardiner!
Our reproduction Clive Gardiner poster comes from the Golden Age of the British Poster. The boldly coloured image was illustrated in a range of reds, browns and greens depicting the colours seen in the The Palms greenhouse. Gardiner produced the design in a contemporary cubist style style in a style is reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints.
Original copies of this London Transport poster promoting Underground rail travel to Kew Gardens do still turn up at auction occasionally. Whilst they are not the rarest of posters they do command auction prices in the region of £2000.
There’s no argument from us, if you can find an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it. Unfortunately, for most of us, an investment at this level isn’t even close to being a possibility. This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. They cost a fraction of an original and look absolutely fantastic when they’re framed and hung on your living room wall.
Kew Gardens is one of the most famous botanical gardens in the world, and a visit is always a memorable experience. If you’re looking for a memento of your time spent there, or just want to add some botanical art to your home decor, a Kew Gardens poster hanging on your walls is sure to brighten up any space. They also make great gifts for fellow gardeners and plant lovers. The posters are available in a variety of sizes, so you’re sure to find one that’s just right for your home. Our posters are printed on premium 300gsm high-quality, silk art paper and with our fast turnaround and delivery, they can be with you in just a few days. Order yours today, you won’t be disappointed!
