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Fly Now: The National Air and Space Museum Poster Collection

Throughout their history, posters have been a significant means of mass communication, often with striking visual effect. Wendy Wick Reaves, the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery Curator of Prints and Drawings, comments that "sometimes a pictorial poster is a decorative masterpiece-something I can't walk by without a jolt of aesthetic pleasure. Another might strike me as extremely clever advertising … But collectively, these 'pictures of persuasion,' as we might call them, offer a wealth of art, history, design, and popular culture for us to understand. The poster is a familiar part of our world, and we intuitively understand its role as propaganda, promotion, announcement, or advertisement."

Reaves' observations are especially relevant for the impressive array of aviation posters in the National Air and Space Museum's 1300+ artifact collection. Quite possibly the largest publicly-held collection of its kind in the United States, the National Air and Space Museum's posters focus primarily on advertising for aviation-related products and activities. Among other areas, the collection includes 19th-century ballooning exhibition posters, early 20th-century airplane exhibition and meet posters, and twentieth-century airline advertisements.

The posters in the collection represent printing technologies that include original lithography, silkscreen, photolithography, and computer-generated imagery. The collection is significant both for its aesthetic value and because it is a unique representation of the cultural, commercial and military history of aviation. The collection represents an intense interest in flight, both public and private, during a significant period of its technological and social development.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Date circa 1941 Country of Origin United States of America Type ART-Posters, Original Art Quality Medium Poster, Advertising, Movie Manufacturer Continental Litho. Corp.
 Sponsor The Vitaphone Corporation
Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc.
 Distributor Vitagraph, Inc.
 Physical Description Airplanes swarm past banner reading the title of the movie. Two photographs below, one of airfield with airplanes and crew, the other with officer pinning on medal. Full text: "Poland's Warriors of the Air Like Knights of the Old Defend The Freedom of the World Polish War Relief" "Wings of Steel in Technicolor Produced in Cooperation with the United States Army Air Corps with Douglas Kennedy Herbert Anderson Tom Neal- Ralph Byrd Frank Wilcox" Copyright: "This advertising material is the property of Vitagraph, Inc. and is leased pursuant to an agreement which provides: "The exhibitor agrees that the advertising materials are leased for use only in conjunction with the exhibition at the theatre specified of the respective motion pictures identified in such materials and only for the purpose of properly advertising and exploiting said respective motion pictures at said theatre and the exhibitor agrees that he will not trade, sublease sell, give away or otherwise use or permit others to use such materials." Dimensions 2-D - In Frame (H x W x D): 100.3 x 64.8 x 2.5cm (39 1/2 in. x 25 1/2 in. x 1 in.)
 Inventory Number A20000549000 Credit Line Bequest of Melvin Buchner. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
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