All aboard for another retro ad! Prepare to ship out to London, England. This Imperial War Museum retro ad, a fine example of early Turnstile Marketing, features Edward Wadsworth’s Dazzle Ships in Drydock at Liverpool, painted in 1919.
When dazzle ships first appeared on the naval scene in 1917, they were a sight to behold. Designed to confuse the depth perception of enemies, their Cubist designs were unlike anything seen before. Wadsworth, who had been commissioned to create many of these eye-tricking designs, likewise painted a series of paintings depicting the ships. When this ad ran in 1936, the design concept was perfect for grabbing potential visitors’ attention. This poster stops a viewer in their tracks and also conveys that there’s more to the Imperial War Museum than they might expect. To finish it off, a logo for the London Underground shows how easy it is to come and see for yourself
FUN FACT: The Imperial War Museum now has multiple locations across England, and there’s more to the museums than the artifacts they contain. For example, the North Museum’s swooping, abstract architecture sits on top of an old bomb site. Trafford Park was a main target in the Manchester Blitz. When they laid the foundations for the building, shrapnel and an anti-aircraft cartridge shell were found!