UNDERGROUND ART/1908-1988

Under the enlightened rule of publicity officer Frank Pick, many of the major and unsung minor artists from Britain, Europe and the US produced their finest work as commissions for the London Underground. London Transport did not merely promote travel by tube, it encouraged its patrons to go to plays and concerts, visit the Zoo, go to the country for the day or move to Metroland. The resulting art collection is one of considerable diversity, comprising over 3000 original posters and countless smaller pieces by artists such as Edward McKnight Kauffer, Frank Brangwyn, Laura Knight, Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland. With the revival of specially commissioned posters on the tube in the late 1990s, this is an assessment of London Transport's influence as one of the most demanding art patrons of the century.