Ocean Liners: Speed and Style

Stylish exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at the style and lifestyle of the ocean liners.

 
The whole show was beautifully designed from the gang plank you cross to get into the heart of the show, through the recreated interiors, an on deck swimming pool and a grand staircase complete with clothes that had been worn on the ships.
 
I hadn’t realised that the liners grew from government contracts to transport post which is why many of them continued to have a link back to their host nation. The main style galleries followed this theme looking at the style of the different countries in chronological order of their heydays. The British section looked at the Art Nouveau and included Christopher Dresser water jugs and William de Morgan tiles.
 
There was an interesting room on the technological developments which speeded up the Atlantic crossing before we moved into the section on life on board. I loved the array of table wear mainly from the Normandie which had been emptied before being turned into a troop ship so many of the interiors and objects still exist.



As I went round the show there was a voice in my head saying “Don’t mention the Titanic” but of course it did appear towards the end with the largest remaining fragment of the interior being shown in Europe for the first time since the ship sailed.
 
I think my favourite item was Jean Denard’s mural for the Normandie called Les Sports, a wonderful Art Deco scene of different sports.
 
Closed 17 June 2018
 
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