Fly TWA

By Mark Kaufman
Not to sound like a broken record but the weather outside is frightening. Seattle is a dreary place in the winter. And the fall and most of the spring for that matter. When the rains come I like to think happy thoughts. That usually relates to travel and since I’m not going anywhere at the moment, the next best thing to being there crossed my mind, and for me that’s the TWA travel posters by David Klein. These never fail to make me smile. A wonderful series of posters done for TWA in the 1960’s, these illustrations are delightful examples of the power of illustration, they are well designed, vibrant, cacophonies of color and detail. The wonderful angles and juxtaposition of landmarks and cultural iconography capture the essence of both place and the wonder of travel. While there is a lot to be said for photographic campaigns of Swissair and others, I don’t think they ever struck a chord about travel the way the Klein posters did. The eagle eyed among you may notice that amongst the examples I have shown, one does not belong. When thinking of airline campaigns I remembered that JetBlue, did advertising and posters reminiscent of the illustrative posters of yore. At the lower right is a fine example of that by John Wilkinson, a fantastic artist with style to spare. I of course included the Newark poster because I think it is downright funny. Sure it’s Newark, but Mr. Wilkinson still managed to take the time and care to craft a beautiful piece of art.