Smithsonian Institution
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Asset Name:
media:NASM-A19900467000cp03

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Object details:

Title: Air France South America - French West Africa
Smithsonian Record ID: edanmdm:nasm_A19900467000

	Title
	Air France South America - French West Africa

	Metadata Usage
	Not determined

	Guid
	http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv98c375321-7125-4056-beb0-c2de43282d79

	Data Source
	National Air and Space Museum

	Sponsor
	Air France, 1933--

	Medium
	Poster, Advertising, Commercial Aviation

	Dimensions
	2-D - Unframed (H x W): 93.3 × 61.3cm (3 ft. 3/4 in. × 2 ft. 1/8 in.)

	Physical Description
	Color map showing routes to South America and South Africa; "Air France" in red type on black paper taped over text at bottom, covering text "South America French West Africa"; multicolor offset lithograph image on paper.

	Summary
	Fly Now: The National Air and Space Museum Poster Collection

	Summary
	Throughout their history, posters have been a significant means of mass communication, often with striking visual effect. Wendy Wick Reaves, the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery Curator of Prints and Drawings, comments that "sometimes a pictorial poster is a decorative masterpiece-something I can't walk by without a jolt of aesthetic pleasure. Another might strike me as extremely clever advertising … But collectively, these 'pictures of persuasion,' as we might call them, offer a wealth of art, history, design, and popular culture for us to understand. The poster is a familiar part of our world, and we intuitively understand its role as propaganda, promotion, announcement, or advertisement."

	Summary
	Reaves' observations are especially relevant for the impressive array of aviation posters in the National Air and Space Museum's 1300+ artifact collection. Quite possibly the largest publicly-held collection of its kind in the United States, the National Air and Space Museum's posters focus primarily on advertising for aviation-related products and activities. Among other areas, the collection includes 19th-century ballooning exhibition posters, early 20th-century airplane exhibition and meet posters, and twentieth-century airline advertisements.

	Summary
	The posters in the collection represent printing technologies that include original lithography, silkscreen, photolithography, and computer-generated imagery. The collection is significant both for its aesthetic value and because it is a unique representation of the cultural, commercial and military history of aviation. The collection represents an intense interest in flight, both public and private, during a significant period of its technological and social development.

	Country of Origin
	France

	Inventory Number
	A19900467000

	Date
	circa 1933

	Type
	ART-Posters, Original Art Quality

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