London Tube : A True Platform for Art – Sandhya Bordewekar
2013 is being celebrated as the 150th year of the London Underground, popularly
known as the Tube because of the round tunnels through which the trains navigate the
vast city of London and its immediate neighbourhood. If you have ever lived in London
or been there as a student or a tourist, you would most certainly have used the Tube.
The London Underground began operation on January 10, 1863, the first of its kind in
the world and the fourth longest today. It connects 270 stations, 402 kilometers (half
of which are above the ground) with 11 colour-coded lines. The schematic Tube Map,
designed by Harry Beck in 1931, was voted the national design icon in 2006.
Visual art began to make its presence felt on the London Underground in 1908, first
with the distinctive red Roundel of the Underground with its simple blue band running
across the Roundel. It was in this year that Frank Pick, the Underground’s then Publicity
Officer, began commissioning local artists to work on poster campaigns to popularize
the rapidly expanding network of the trains. London Underground has developed
a formidable reputation for its outstanding graphic poster commissions, becoming a