Natural History Museum

Although he was a recent art school graduate, Edward Bawden had already developed a mature calligraphic style by the time he created this Underground poster. He wittily re-creates the excitement of the many monumental display cases in the ornithological (bird) galleries of the Natural History Museum. Specimens include a tall ostrich with its gigantic egg, a king penguin grasping a fish in its beak, and, at top, an extinct dodo bird. The diverse feathered creatures fascinate the small figures of an adult and child at the right of the image.