When America Was Great

Museum of Modern Art, New York
1956
Medium:Photolithograph
Dimensions:40 x 25"
Gift of TWA

The poster is from a recent Antiques Roadshow. Below is the appraisal's description. It was appraised at $2,500 - $3,000 in the original show in 2009, and upgraded to $3,000 - $4,000 in 2014.

APPRAISER: Let me tell you what I know about the poster. The obvious thing is, it's advertising TWA flights to New York City. The artist signs his name "David." His full name is actually David Klein. And David Klein was a very prolific artist who worked for TWA. This is one of the more recognizable and one of the more popular images that he designed.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: And in my opinion, it is one of the greatest graphic depictions of Times Square. It's a geometric, abstract, almost kaleidoscopic view of this great, bustling intersection. He captures all of the energy, he captures all of the excitement, he captures all of the movement. It was done in 1956. It is part silk screen and part photolithograph. The bright colors have been put on through a silk-screen process, and everything else has been printed via a lithographic process. One of the other great things about the poster is the plane that's on top. The plane is the TWA Lockheed Constellation, known as the Connie. They were considered great airplanes. You see it was a propeller plane. There's the propellers on it. And with these planes, TWA was able to initiate full service to Europe. Now, I'm not the only one who likes this poster. The company liked it so much that they continued to reuse it in subsequent years. But there's one way that we can tell that this is the original printing and not a later printing, and that is the airplane itself. Because shortly after 1956, propeller planes were phased out and jet planes were phased in. So subsequent printings of this poster don't show the detailed Constellation. They show the silhouette of a jet plane actually leaving a vapor trail behind it as it goes across.

GUEST: Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER: And not only was the company very fond of this poster, but this poster is also in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York-- MOMA.

(More here)

David Klein with his TWA Poster in his studio
Circa 1957

Here is some background on David Klein:

David Klein was born in El Paso, Texas in February of 1918. He moved to California where he attended the Art Center School [later renamed the Art Center College of Design] in Los Angeles.

During the 1930s, he was an active member of the California Watercolor Society. This group of artists often chose to paint watercolors depicting scenes of everyday life in the cities and suburbs of California. They painted directly with little or no preliminary pencil drawings, and used paper as a ‘color’ in a new and creative way.

[...]

David served in the army during the Second World War, where he illustrated numerous army manuals.

[...]

After the war, David Klein moved to New York and settled in Brooklyn Heights, where he would live for the next 60 years. In 1947, David Klein worked as an art director at Clifford Strohl Associates, a theatrical advertising agency. Before long, David became the illustrator of choice for many of Broadway’s best-known shows of the period.

[...]

David Klein is best known, however, for his influential work in the field of travel advertising. During the 1950s and 1960s, David Klein designed and illustrated dozens of posters for Howard Hughes’ Trans World Airlines (TWA).

David’s use of bright colors depicting famous landmarks in an abstract style defined the state of poster art of the period. In 1957 a TWA poster of New York City became part of the permanent collection of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York. These works are much imitated and to this day define the excitement and enthusiasm of the early years of post-war air travel. They defined the Jet Set style and have become iconic.

David won numerous awards for Excellence from the Society of Illustrators for his TWA work, including his Philadelphia, Boston, Switzerland, and Africa poster art.

[...]

David Klein also created poster and advertising artwork for several films, most notably Barry Lyndon, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Gauntlet.

Although Mr. Klein worked commercially almost until the end of his life, in his 70s, he returned to his artistic roots, focusing his creative energies on watercolor paintings.

[...]

Examples of David Klein’s early and later watercolors are in the permanent collection of the Department of Interior’s Museum.

[...]

(The complete article is here)

Here is the current American Airlines ad:


The image is from the New York Times, which heads the article as:
American Airlines Focuses on the Glory Days of Flying

The text reads:

Modern life affords so few opportunities to think, to relax, to think. Make the most of every moment aloft between New York and Los Angeles or San Francisco. Rest in the fully flat seats of the First and Business Class cabins. Or enjoy enhanced Wi-Fi and a full library of entertainment at every seat. And with the most daily nonstop flights, you can make the most of your time on the ground too.

The legend is back.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS // ACTOR

This is the homosexual actor who recently "got married," and "has" two children, juxtaposed with the real legend, Gregory Peck. And look at the guilty smirk on Harris' face. And see how Peck stands with such confidence.

There are other interesting things about the dyptich. There is the strange, thin pole, as though keeping Harris "straight." The pole also makes a clean separation between Gregory Peck and Harris, as though there is (or should be) no connection between the two. It is more like Harris who is being kept away, framed away, from Peck.

And there is the insipid colors on the out-of-focus plane positions far behind Harris. Whereas the out-of-focus plane behind Peck is still large enough, and close enough to the foreground, to show its impressive importance, but it is clearly Peck who is the real subject of the picture.

(I don't wish to go on with photo analyses, but the second image with Grace Kelly and Julianna Margulies shows a cropped "American" in the contemporary photograph. We only see ..."ican." This could be "Puertor---ican" since Margulies looks Hispanic. And look at her emaciated face next to the wholesome looks and cheery smile of Grace Kelly)


Grace Kelly and Julianna Margulies
juxtaposed for the American Airlines Ad

Man and technology have diminished in our modern era.
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[Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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