Orient Line to Australia, Italy, Egypt, Ceylon
Artist
Herbert Kerr Rooke
(British, 1872 - 1944)
Publisher
Orient Line
(1878 - 1966)
Date1930-1935
Object number00004427
NamePoster
MediumColour lithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall: 990 x 625 mm
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
Collections
DescriptionA travel poster by artist Herbert Kerr Rooke, promoting the Orient Line's route to Australia, Italy, Egypt and Ceylon. The ship, depicted in a golden light and calm seas, is the embodiment of adventure, glamour and progress. Its huge bow surging forward is awe-inspiring yet safe and familiar.
HistoryThroughout the 20th century, posters were used as a relatively inexpensive, eye catching and easily distributed way of marketing the idea of travel and tourism.
During the 1930s the Orient Line shipping company embraced a Modernist advertising style. This poster's bold composition represents the beginning of this change, while still drawing on more traditional ship portrait imagery. Posters such as this would have been prominently displayed in ticket offices to entice passers-by during dreary European winters.
In the 1920s, they introduced more second- and third-class cabins, the latter catering to newly prosperous Americans contemplating a European holiday. Although travelling by liners was partially democratised, for many they remained an aspirational pastime.SignificanceThe poster is representative of the transition between traditional ship portrait compositions popular in the early 20th century, and later Modernist inspired designs. It is also an important document recording one of the ways in which travel to Australia was marketed to both national and international audiences.
Orient Line
before 1966
