For A Wide Prospect

From left to right: ‘For a wide prospect at Whitsuntide’, by Frederick Charles Herrick, (1922), ‘What it takes to move the passengers; problems of the Underground’, by Irene Fawkes, (1924) and ‘While Others Wait; a Season Takes you Through’, by Percy Drake Brookshaw (1927)

Having enjoyed doing the ‘Paint Your Home With Winter’ paint palette blog feature based on London Transport’s ‘Winter’ poster by Paul Catherall, so much, I couldn’t resist doing another one. Especially when these super 1920s London Underground posters popped up in my inbox. Ohhh, just look at them. They don’t make ‘em like they used to, eh? The easy elegance, the proper attire, the simple illustrations with no fussy lines or extra details, not to mention the majestic typefaces. On first sight the posters look rather muted but look again, and you then see all the strong highlight colours popping up. A great colour scheme, I love the dirty pastel greens with the ballsy coral pink and purple. The gentlemen are the most dapperly-dressed cads, ’tis a great shame men don’t dress like that anymore.

London Underground posters, prices start from £9.95 for an A4 print, London Transport Museum Shop

1.) Creamerie, £30.50 for 2.5l satin emulsion, Little Greene 2.) National Trust’s Bells Green, £32.50 for 2.5l matt emulsion, Fired Earth 3.) Chinese Emperor, £32.50 for 2.5l matt emulsion, Paint and Paper Library 4.) Fuchsia, £29 for 2.5l matt emulsion, Designers Guild 5.) Dulux’s Crushed Aloe, £18.47 for 2.5l matt emulsion, Wilkinson 6.) Oval Room Blue No. 85, £32.50 for 2.5l estate emulsion, Farrow and Ball 7.) Jewel In The Crown, £19.50 for 2.5l matt emulsion, Graham and Brown 8.) Earthborn’s Flower Pot, £63 for 5l, Lombok 9.) Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s Space Hopper, EAN: 5011583021004, £19.98 2.5L matt emulsion, B&Q

with thanks to Rumour PR for poster images