his exhibition examines the evolution of advertising graphics over the course of a century, originating in the 19th century to promote sea travel. The artefacts on display represent a small but significant selection of the 25,000 documents from the "advertising graphics" section preserved in the archive of the cultural association Italian Liners, with additional contributions from private collections in Trieste.
From the mid-19th century onwards, thanks to the Industrial Revolution, humanity freed itself from the whims of winds and currents after millennia, enabling long sea journeys and sparking the first mass migration phenomena. The large ocean liner, the steamship, or in the collective imagination, the "transatlantic," soon became the epitome of an adventurous journey to distant and unknown destinations.
The advent of the steam engine not only revolutionised transportation but also introduced the industrialisation of many production processes, including printing methods. In just a few years, printing moved from Gutenberg's press to rotary presses capable of producing thousands of copies in a short time, and to colour printing.
Promotional graphics became an art form, and the ocean liner, the largest, most majestic, and complex self-propelled object ever conceived by man, became one of its favourite subjects. In the large lithographic and typographic establishments, a multitude of illustrators and artists worked to create thousands of sketches designed to introduce the "floating city" to a wide audience.