Historical Snapshot: 'A Century of Olympic Posters'

Olympic Posters Through History

Canary Wharf is the most recent stop for the travelling exhibition of historical Olympic posters.

A Century of Olympic Posters, which was curated at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in line with the 2008 Bejing Olympics and for the build up to London 2012, has been travelling around the UK for the past 3 years.

The exhibition, which runs until 2 March, offers a visual snapshot of the world from each Olympic Games and an insight to their respective host country.

"What you can see here at Canary Wharf is a hundred year display of Olympic posters which act as a window into people's cultural beliefs and into attitudes, and to how art has evolved over that time.” said Hamish McDougall, spokesman for Canary Wharf Group.

Posters from the beginning of the 20th century show strong empirical themes and reference to Antiquity, while those from the 1990s show themes of diversity and commerce.

With Wenlock and Mandeville cheering us on, and artworks from Tracy Emin and Howard Hodgkin, we can’t help but wonder what London 2012 will say about us.

Close

What's Hot