1913 London Underground Poster - By Joseph Pennel

UndergrounD - For The Centre of All Things.

Autolithograph by Joseph Pennel. Printed by Westminster Press for the London Underground Electric Railways. Double Royal Poster 101 x 63cm. Black ink with red tones. Condition: Professionally restored. In a wood painted frame.

Drawn from his own apartment window overlooking Charing Cross Station in Villiers Street in 1913, Joseph Pennel captures the energy of London at a point of seismic technological transition. This is a remarkable image of old and new - horse and carts alongside motor vehicles. Steam railways overland whilst electric railways run deep underground. And in the sky, a plane - the first public flying exhibitions were taking place at Hendon in the same year. A passage from Charlotte Bronte's 'Villette' sits beneath the image and its synergy with the image suggests that it might have inspired Pennels composition.

This poster (No.5) was one of a small series of autolithographs produced by the Senefelder Club, a group of the worlds finest lithographers formed to further the medium of lithography and of whom Pennel was President at the time.

Charing Cross Station - which is now Embankment - bears a very early Roundel sign that appears to be a temporary hoarding. This might explain why Pennel has run out of space for the word 'Cross' in the sign - in a drawing otherwise so well executed, one wonders if the sign actually looked like that!

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