> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Promise of Glamor and Adventure in Mid-Century Airline Advertising - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-promise-of-glamor-and-adventure-in-mid-century-airline-advertising/ - Published: 2015-06-12T15:23:54.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T16:15:33.000Z - Description: From the end of World War II to the 1970s, airline travel experienced a revolution in extended routes and better aircrafts. - Author: Allison Meier - Tags: Books, Advertising, Design, Transportation, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2) ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity05.jpg) Victor Vasarely, “Air France – Amérique du Sud” (1948), stone lithograph (all images courtesy Callisto Publishers) From the end of World War II to the 1970s, airline travel experienced a revolution in extended routes and better aircrafts. The corporate design evolved alongside, and in [*Airline Visual Identity: 1945–1975*](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3981655001/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Matthias C. Hühne, a new book out from [Callisto Publishers](https://www.callisto-publishers.com/en/buecher/airline-visual-identity-1945-1975?ref=hyperallergic.com), that era of advertising is celebrated with all its promised adventure and glamor. ![Cover of 'Airline Visual Identity: 1945-1975 '](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlinevisualcover.jpg) Cover of ‘Airline Visual Identity: 1945-1975 ‘ *Airline Visual Identity* is quite a hefty tome, weighing in at about 14 pounds, and isn’t cheap (currently going for [$360 on Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3981655001/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com)). Yet it’s likely the most lovingly printed and comprehensive books on airline posters available, with work by design icons like Saul Bass, Massimo Vignelli, and Mary Wells Lawrence alongside anonymous creators. They were all illustrating the romance of distant travel promised by flight, and emphasizing the beauty and power of the advanced airplanes alongside the people and places connected by their routes. The pre-World War II era had its share of experimental design, such as avant-garde artist László Moholy-Nagy[ working for Imperial Airways,](https://hyperallergic.com/an-avant-garde-map-that-enticed-fearful-customers-to-air-travel/) but it really took off in the mid-century, when aircraft technology, which was sped along by the military, was fully adapted for civilian use. The era was also a high point for sleek corporate design, with TWA, for example, [commissioning prestigious architect Eero Saarinen](https://hyperallergic.com/how-public-tours-helped-save-nycs-most-futuristic-air-terminal/) for its JFK terminal. “It was a rebirth for civil aviation, which had been all but suspended during the war,” Hühne writes in an introduction. “The Jet Age began in the late 1950s, and by the mid­-1970s, all major leaps in air travel innovation had been completed — in terms of the size and comfort of air­ craft, as represented by the Boeing 747, in terms of speed, embodied by the supersonic Concorde, and in terms of the availability of destinations.” Below are some selections from the over 400 pages of *Airline Visual Identity,* where each poster tells a story about both the airline and the personal opportunities for exploration by its passengers. ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity02.jpg) Roger Excoffon, “Air France” (1964), offset photolithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity04.jpg) Bernhard Villemot, with art direction by Jean Carlu, “Air France – India” (1956), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity06.jpg) Walter Bomar, “American Airlines – Jet Powered Electra Flagships” (1959), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity13.jpg) Hans Rott, “Lufthansa” (1960), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity17.jpg) Anonymous, “United Air Lines – New Orleans” (1962), silkscreen ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity16.jpg) David Klein, “TWA – St. Louis” (1965), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity07.jpg) Anonymous, “American Airlines – Niagara Falls” (1968), offset photolithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity10.jpg) Frank Wootton, “BOAC – USA” (1950), silkscreen ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity08.jpg) Herbert Danska, “American Airlines – 707 Jet Flagships” (1960), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity14.jpg) Aaron Fine, “Pan Am – Jet Clipper” (1958), silkscreen ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity09.jpg) Joseph Charles Parker and Martin D. Glanzman, “American Airlines – Texas” (1953), silkscreen ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity03.jpg) Raymond Savignac, with art direction by Jean Carlu, “Air France – Le Plus Longe Réseau du Monde” (1956), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity15.jpg) David Klein, “TWA – California” (1967), lithograph ![Airline Visual Identity 1945 - 1975](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/06/airlineidentity11.jpg) Abram Games, “Far Better Travel by BOAC” (1950), silkscreen [Airline Visual Identity: 1945-1975](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3981655001/hyperallergic-20?ref=hyperallergic.com) *by Matthias C. Hühne is out with Callisto Publishers.*