The Wright brothers’ invention of the airplane truly changed the world.
Imagining what this new world would be like began as soon as the first airplanes took to the air in the early 1900s.  

With the growing public fascination with all things flight related, the airplane soon became part of culture. Airplanes and flight themes began to appear on jewelry, games, in cartoons and illustrations, in art and literature, and more. Yet another sign that the aerial age had begun. Take a look at some of these aviation-inspired items below.

Aviation in Games

Gilbert Erector Set

This Gilbert Erector Set featured Wright and Blériot airplanes as project that could be built.

A drawing of a man with a child on his lap, with two children playing in the foreground. Models of an airplane and ferris wheel are also in the room. "The Erector" is written across the top.

Front cover of the manual for the 1913 Mysto Manufacturing Company "The Erector" set produced by A. C. Gilbert, New Haven, Connecticut. It reads: "The Erector: Structural Steel & Electro Mechanical Builder; Educational, Instructive, and Amusing." 

Model of a Wright-type biplane against a black background.
Illustration from the manual for the 1913 Mysto Manufacturing Company "The Erector" set featuring a Wright-type biplane. The set was produced by A. C. Gilbert, New Haven, Connecticut.

More Games from the First Half of the 1900s

Board Game, Lindbergh, King Collection

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Board Game, Lindbergh, King Collection

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Puzzle Game, Lindbergh, King Collection

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Card Game, "The Airmail Game"

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Aviation in Fashion and Decor

Circular metal box with monoplane and pilot in a cloudy sky painted on the lid. Image surrounded by narrow gold border. Sides and bottom metallic red.

This ca.1910 pillbox depicts an Antoinette monoplane. 

View the Antoinette Monoplane Pillbox record

Small metal trapezoidal box depicting Bleriot monoplane ascending into the sky, flying to the viewer's left. The edge of a grassy cliff is visible on the right, with waves below the plane. "Bleriot" in black block letters upper right. Bordered in red, white, and blue rope.

This pillbox features a Blériot monoplane on its lid.

View the Bleriot Monoplane Pillbox record

Pin, Lapel, Bleriot XI

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Pin, Lapel, Voisin Biplane

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Charm, Bleriot Monoplane

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Charm, Antoinette Monoplane

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Aviation in Satire

L'Assiette au Buerre

L'Assiette au Beurre (The Plate with Butter) was a weekly magazine of social satire published from 1901 to 1914. Each issue was devoted entirely to one subject.

Les Aéroplanes, 1908

In 1908, L'Assiette au Buerre published an issue on airplanes was illustrated by noted Spanish artist Juan Gris, one of the leading exponents of Cubist painting, and Jules Grandjouan, a pioneer political illustrator.

  • An American "Uncle Sam" figure holding up a Wright Type A model plane in front of the desk of a seated French Official.
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    “For the sake of France’s honor, it is well worth 5,000 more. It’s not Germany that would be bargaining, Mister Minister!...” 

  • A city skyline full of biplanes in flight.
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    “Must we keep right or left?... Above or under?...” 

  • A bearded man in a Wright-type biplane flying over a group of people. A man in a uniform waves his arms from the ground at the plane.
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    “The customs officer can scream all he wants....I get rid of customs!” 

  • A large uniformed official reading from a piece of a paper as a much smaller person looks on. A person flies a biplane in the background.
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    Humorous drawing from "L'Assiette au Beurre" by Grandjouan of an official carrying reading proclamation as a small man at lower right looks on. In the background, an aviator gives an emphatic thumbs-down signal as he launches his Wright Type A biplane into the air as the sun sets behind him. The caption reads:

    "--Par arrêté de monsieur le maire, la circulation aérienne est interdite à partir de cinq heures du soir et les records ne comptent pas !"

    ["By order of the mayor, aerial traffic is prohibited from 5 p.m. and records do not count!"]

    "Les Aéroplanes," issue No. 398 of the French satirical periodical "L'Assiette au Beurre," 14 November 1908, page 533.

  • Two motorists change a tire as another car flies by and a biplane flies overhead.
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    The drivers: “In aeroplane, neither dust, nor flat tire!...Here’s what will bring the price of automobiles down!” 

  • Two panels. The top one features birds flying into a propellor. The bottom one features a person in an airplane holding oxygen cannisters.
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    First Panel: "New rotating mirrors, propellers attract and kill birds! The next St. Hubert Club protest against this competition is being announced for the distinguished 'rifles'."

    Second Panel: “Just as it is forbidden to take water from the sea, it will be prohibited to take oxygen from the air.” 

  • A pilot sits in a biplane and drops items on artillery troops below.
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    The Military Aeroplane

    “What concerns me is not how I’m going to kill the enemy, but how I’m going to manage not to kill myself.” 

  • Soldiers position horse-drawn artillery straight up towards the sky as an aircraft passes overhead.
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    The Military Aeroplane

    The gunners: “Gonna have to shoot straight up...but it could very well fall back on our nose.” 

  • A king walks through a courtyard in a hunched over, defeated manner as the shadow on an airplane follows him from above.
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    Nicolas: “The sky too, now!...Wall the sky!” 

  • Two formally dressed men speak to each other in the foreground while a biplane flies above. In the background are signs pointing towards France and Germany.
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    Georges Clemenceau (french politician): “Still, with that thing, there are no more countries....” 

    Aristide Briand (french politician): “Great!...That way we can go back to our old ideas.” 

  • Four people can be seen through the wings of a biplane, standing behind it. Two of the people are turned toward each other, one dressed in a top hat and the other in a suit. The suited man points at the man in the top hat.
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    The seller: “Note that it is cheaper than an automobile, and faster....” 

    The buyer: "For the heirs.” 

  • A policeman put his hand on the shoulder of a startled pilot who is seated in a biplane.
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    “Stop!... If you were a bird, you could fly...but you are a man, you must get permission from competent authorities.” 

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  • An American "Uncle Sam" figure holding up a Wright Type A model plane in front of the desk of a seated French Official.
  • A city skyline full of biplanes in flight.
  • A bearded man in a Wright-type biplane flying over a group of people. A man in a uniform waves his arms from the ground at the plane.
  • A large uniformed official reading from a piece of a paper as a much smaller person looks on. A person flies a biplane in the background.
  • Two motorists change a tire as another car flies by and a biplane flies overhead.
  • Two panels. The top one features birds flying into a propellor. The bottom one features a person in an airplane holding oxygen cannisters.
  • A pilot sits in a biplane and drops items on artillery troops below.
  • Soldiers position horse-drawn artillery straight up towards the sky as an aircraft passes overhead.
  • A king walks through a courtyard in a hunched over, defeated manner as the shadow on an airplane follows him from above.
  • Two formally dressed men speak to each other in the foreground while a biplane flies above. In the background are signs pointing towards France and Germany.
  • Four people can be seen through the wings of a biplane, standing behind it. Two of the people are turned toward each other, one dressed in a top hat and the other in a suit. The suited man points at the man in the top hat.
  • A policeman put his hand on the shoulder of a startled pilot who is seated in a biplane.

From the French magazines Le Rire and Le Sourire

Seven people crane their necks toward the sky, their heads presumably looking up at a passing airplane.
This cartoon pokes fun at the “hazards” of the new aviation enthusiasm.  
Two women stand facing each other. Both are fashionably dressed in long dresses and large hats. The hat on the right resembles a Wright-type biplane.

Aéro-Modes Pour 1910

(Extrait du Catalogue d' "Antoinette Soeurs")

A Satirical drawing by Verjez from an unknown French periodical (possiblyLe Sourire) depicting women modeling "Aero-Fashions for 1910" from the "Antoinette Sisters" catalogue. The woman with a biplane-shaped hat at right says "Your monoplane is ravishing, my dear!," and the woman at left wearing a monoplane-inspired hat replies, "Yes, but the biplane is more becoming." The first woman replies, "And for stability, there's nothing like a Wright!" 

Le Départ d'un Transatlantique en 1960

A humorous drawing reprinted as "Le Départ d'un Transatlantique en 1960" ["Transatlantic Departure in 1960"] in French periodical Le Sourire (Paris, France). The cartoon originally appeared in Life magazine on January 6, 1910, with the caption "Bon Voyage." The cartoon illustration depicts an ocean-liner-sized airship docked at a rooftop departure platform labeled "United Air Line: London and Paris."

A large airship docks at a rooftop departure platform; passengers wave at a small crowd; rooftops of a large city are visible below and in background.
Aviation in Music

Enthusiasm for flight was also expressed musically. The romance of flying and the appeal of the dashing, daring aviator were natural themes for popular song. Like other artists, musical composers found the aerial age rich inspiration for their creativity. In addition to the entertaining tunes, the sheet music of the period was visually striking.

 Listen to music inspired by early aviation

Aviation in Art

Airplanes and the Avant-Garde

The airplane appeared just as Cubism and the modern art movement emerged. The forward-looking nature of human flight was fertile subject matter for these abstract expressionist pioneers. Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Kazimir Malevich, Giacomo Balla, and Robert Delaunay produced works inspired by and featuring the airplane. The Italian Futurists were especially influential in motivating these avant-garde artists to explore aviation.

A colorful painting of the Eiffel Tower as seen from above.

Eiffel Tower and Gardens, Champ de Mars (La Tour Eiffel et Jardin du Champ de Mars)

Robert Delaunay, Oil on canvas, 1922

70 1/8 x 67 1/8 in. (178.1 x 170.4 cm)

The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981

Before the invention of the airplane only birds or people in balloons would have had this view. The airplane changed the perspective of artists and how we viewed the world—as is seen here in Robert Delaunay's 1922 painting Eiffel Tower and the Gardens, Champs de Mars. 

Malevich and Delaunay in particular were taken with aviation. For them, flight was a metaphor for the transformation of consciousness, a liberation from the constraints of normal existence, and a redefinition of time and space. They had a passion for the new 20th-century technologies and were fascinated with the notion of escape from the earth. 

Other Styles of Artistic Expression 

The avant-garde were not the only artists who pursued aviation themes. The airplane appeared in poster art, landscapes, caricature, photography, and representational works as well.  

Caricature drawing of 13 people from the shoulders up. Six people on the left half all face toward the center, and seven people on the right half also face toward the center. Most wear caps and large overcoats.

A lithograph by Robert Dick entitled Les Primiers Champions Aviateurs which features caricatures of early fliers.

View Les Premiers Champions Aviateurs Lithograph

 

Two aircraft, one perspectively larger and one significantly smaller, flying over green and yellow meadows and intersecting rows of buildings.

A lithograph by French artist Marguerite Montaut entitled Garros Gagne le Grand Prix de l'aero club, 1912 which translates to: Garros Wins the Aero Club Grand Prix, 1912.

View Garros Gagne le Grand Prix Lithograph

More Airplane Inspired Art from the Early 1900s

Lithograph on paper, Century

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The Deutsch Prize

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French WWI Aircraft

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Wright au Camp d'Auvours, 1908

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