Overview

From about 1890 to 1970, shipowners commissioned a wealth of paintings of their ships which depicted, as well as the vessels themselves, the routes they travelled, their exotic destinations, and life on board. By the turn of the twentieth century shipowners began to use them for postcards and posters to advertisse their steamers, and thus was born a whole genre which produced tens of thousands of paintings and which, taken as a whole, gives us a superb overview of the great era of the passenger liner. In 1900 there were over thirty shipping lines operating passenger services across the North Atlantic; today there is not even a regular transatlantic schedule, and the passenger liners have disappeard along with the art that they once inspired. What remains are the postcards which tell an evocative story of an aspect of our maritime past which has vanished. Not only do they depict the ships but their messages give us an insight into the shipboard life of the emigrants, soldiers, administrators and holiday makers who travelled the world by sea before the advent of the jet airliner. The romance, the adventure and sometimes the tragedy of sea travel is reflected in these pages; all who love ships and the sea, postcard and art collectors and anyone with a passion for travel in a more civilised age will find this book totally absorbing.

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