Always warm and bright

This poster was commissioned by the Underground Electric Railway Company in 1912. It depicts Passengers travelling in a District Railway Underground car. The interior shows the clerestory ceiling, typical of the new stock that was high enough to accommodate the voluminous Edwardian hats worn by its Passengers. Posters became a medium for popular commercial interpretation of contemporary avant-garde art. Here, Mervyn Laurence employs the strident colour of the Fauves and alludes to Matisse's The Red Studio, which was produced the previous year. Both paintings are windows onto full, engaging, over-furnished worlds where form is decorative and described in terms of pure colour. The artists invite you into their painting, offering you an empty underground seat, or a place at the artist's table.