The Transportation Library is proud to debut a new exhibit: A Visual Feast: Bob Peak’s TWA Menus, now on display in our fifth floor lobby in University Library.
Airline marketing has seldom focused on the journey so much as it has the destination. The promise of glamour and exploration in new places and new discoveries is at the heart of the appeal of the travel experience, and Bob Peak’s art for TWA employed the vibrant, illustrative storytelling that was his signature to capture the spirit of world cities on paper.
Peak was among the most prolific illustrators of his time, with a decades-long career that spanned commercial advertising, fashion illustration, automobile design, and fine art. Today, Peak is most widely remembered as a designer of movie posters. Indeed, echoes of the art done for these posters – for such films as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture – can be seen in his work for TWA.
Peak’s work with TWA began with a commission for four murals in 1973. The commission soon expanded, and it ultimately included some sixty distinct pieces that Peak designed for the airline. Among these was a series of illustrations representing cities around the world, reproduced as menus for the airline’s in-flight service. This included TWA’s California Ambassador and Flavors of the World service, both of which provided passengers with an elevated coach class dining experience through a selection of internationally-inspired entrees.
Menus in this exhibition come from the Lillian Mallstrom Airline Menu and Memorabilia Collection, Lawrence M. Nagin Airline Menu and Memorabilia Collection, and the Transportation Library Menu Collection.
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