It’s London Transport poster collection time again! This time I’ve singled out Dorrit Dekk. Not just for her transport posters, but also in recognition of her mid-century illsutrated poster work for P&O (including some menus I have previously posted) and print work for Air France.

Printmaker, illustrator and designer Dorrit Dekk was born 1917 in Brno, Czech Republic. She studied at Vienna art school until 1938, just as Hitler was beginning to break down the liberal ideologies of German and Austrian Art institutions. She moved to London in the nick of time  to continue her work. As the trend usually follows, she ended up working for the famous Central Office of Information. I’m not sure if there is an institution that has existed that was singularly responsible for producing so much great graphic design work in the last century. Shame its image has become mired in a quagmire of digital rubbish.

I’ve seen both the typically bold graphic lines of her mid-century graphics work and the more detailed illustration pieces of the 60s. Either way,  her work seems to portray a sense of fun, liberation and expression – All the intact feelings that she brought with her from Vienna.