Natural History Museum

Description

Although he was a recent art school graduate, Edward Bawden had already developed a mature calligraphic style by the time he created this Underground poster. He wittily re-creates the excitement of the many monumental display cases in the ornithological (bird) galleries of the Natural History Museum. Specimens include a tall ostrich with its gigantic egg, a king penguin grasping a fish in its beak, and, at top, an extinct dodo bird. The diverse feathered creatures fascinate the small figures of an adult and child at the right of the image.

Natural History Museum

Edward Bawden

1925

Accession Number

18799

Medium

Color lithograph on cream wove paper

Dimensions

76.1 × 50.7 cm (30 × 20 in.)

Classification

poster

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited