Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Sunny Savoir Faire


Don’t these travel posters for Egypt just make you want to travel?

Created by various artists for a variety of companies including Egyptian State Railways, various hotels and shipping companies they promise us a vacation filled with exotic savoir faire. Enticing us with bright colours and images of a monumental Ancient Egypt, these posters would beckon one from travel agent’s windows of grey European capitals during the winter months. Passers by would stop and dream of sunnier climes and exotic trips across the desert visiting the Pyramids, forgetting their drab surroundings for a couple of minutes of their day.

In this age of computer generated graphics and digital photography I sorely miss examples such as these. Highlighting one of travel’s golden eras these were graphics to be admired and collected.

Is it because today’s traveller has changed in their outlook, that they don’t produce posters like these any more? Or is it a different sort of exotic that leads us to travel?


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11 comments:

  1. KathyApril 6, 2011 at 8:19 AM

    Yes! I want "sunny days and magic nights"! And...I'll take that last poster as well. Great post D........k

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  2. designchicApril 6, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    Love the posters...how I miss them in my travel agents window!! Definitely make you want to explore new places...

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  3. mermaid galleryApril 6, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    I miss them too. They were always so exotic...these are great examples and ...yes,...they make me want to travel to Egypt!

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  4. jules @ The Diversion ProjectApril 6, 2011 at 10:44 AM

    they are gorgeous aren't they. imagine the magnetic pull this colour would have had in an agent's window!

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  5. BarimaApril 6, 2011 at 12:27 PM

    We only archive these sorts of advertisements now because illustration was sadly supplanted by photography on an ongoing basis. Also, sex sells, and we began to need clearer representations of glistening beach bodies to entice us to travel. The timing of soulless, photographed travel promotions and the atrophy of the glamour in travelling itself is no coincidence, really

    I think of it as reality intruding on a beautiful, fantasy incarnation of reality

    Great post,

    B

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  6. PetApril 6, 2011 at 1:30 PM

    My lucky day! This blog is really interesting. Thanks for sharing all this.
    Specifically about the posters in this post, I think that as the golden age of travelling is over, so it is its advertising. Unfortunately. But still there are things to find and enjoy. It is more and more hard work, but it is worth it.
    I try, in my much more modest blog, to share this sort of things too. I hope you can find something useful in it too.

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  7. LenoreNeverM♡reApril 6, 2011 at 8:50 PM

    David, reminded me of Agatha Christie's 'Death on the Nile'~ I'm sure you've watched it? lurrrve it!

    xo*

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  8. LenoreNeverM♡reApril 6, 2011 at 8:51 PM

    singapore sling cocktail!
    ~CHEERS darrrling!!

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  9. Belle de VilleApril 7, 2011 at 6:53 PM

    Wonderful. Lenore Nevermore called it with "Death on the Nile".

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  10. David TomsApril 7, 2011 at 8:06 PM

    Many thanks all for your comments.

    Lenore, have one for me!

    Belle, so she did. It is one of my favourite films!

    Pet, many thanks for your visit and comment!

    Barima, very apt comments indeed.

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  11. JillApril 9, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    These are so exotic... I don't think I can pick a favorite. You must work in the travel industry. You find the most interesting things.

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