Aviation meets advertising as the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum presents "Fly Now!"—a colorful history of how the airlines have used posters to market their wares—from June 1 through Aug. 31 at the museum’s flagship building in Washington.

Featuring reproductions of almost two dozen works from the museum’s extensive poster collection, "Fly Now!" explores the evolution of the aeronautical poster, from creating audiences for early 19th century ballooning exhibitions to filling the seats of today’s airliners.

With historically detailed labels, the exhibit examines the posters’ compelling graphic elements as part of the overall marketing philosophies they represent, taking a sometimes playful approach through the questions it asks of visitors’ reactions to the works.

“Fly Now! The Poster Collection of the National Air and Space Museum,” a lavishly illustrated companion book by curator Joanne Gernstein London, is published by the museum and National Geographic; and a related traveling exhibition is touring the country with stops this year in Ontario, Calif., Siloam Springs, Ark., and College Park, Md.

The museum’s aviation poster collection also will be featured in a new permanent exhibition opening in the flagship building in November. “America by Air” will tell the sweeping story of passenger air travel in the United States from early attempts to form airlines only a decade after Kitty Hawk to the commercial challenges and technical sophistication of the 21st-century jet age.

The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport.

Both facilities are open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (Closed Dec. 25) Admission is free, but there is a $12 fee for daily parking at the Udvar-Hazy Center.