Maps and the 20th century: Drawing the Line

Fascinating exhibition at the British Library looking at the history of the 20th century through maps.

The show had nice clear themes of mapping a new world, war, peace, the market and movement. I loved the colour palette used for the display and the idea of putting maps of different styles on the floor to gently guide you round. I liked the idea of putting two maps together as a contrast, often one from early in the century and one from later; however it was annoying that, as the labels were always on the right that this meant the label was therefore a long way from the first item you looked at.

I would like to have seen a bit more about how the maps were made but I liked the fact they didn’t just talk about geographical maps but also about how maps can be used to show data about economic and social issues. They also looked at maps as art works and how they are often used to communicate an idea.

There were some wonderful maps and objects in the show. I loved the Haig map from the First World War, a 3D map pf the Western Front made by cutting up a map and sticking it on built up wood to create the contours of the land. Also a Belfast rifle map, used by the British Army during the troubles which colour coded the Catholic and Protestant areas and was shaped to be stuck on the handle of a rifle for easy access.

I found two items very personal. The 1948 London A-Z was open on the page where I live while it was still a munitions factory and there was a German Blitz map for Liverpool, where my parents were as children at that time.

It was lovely to see John Benjamin’s Ordnance Survey maps with wonderful doodles on them such as tracery windows on the map of Nottingham. Also Tolkien’s original map of Middle Earth drawn on graph paper so he could work out realistic travel times.

Closes on 1 March 2017

Review
Telegraph

 

 

 

 

 

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