Within just a few years of the creation of the UERL and the unification of the lines under a single entity, the London Underground was again in danger of insolvency. It remained unpopular with the public due to complaints of overcrowding, uncleanliness, and tardiness. Frank Pick, the Publicity Manager for the UERL, wanted a new artistic take on rail advertising; some flashy, energetic art to rejuvenate the railway’s reputation and encourage Londoners to associate the Underground with recreation and leisure activities.

Arts and Crafts artist Eric Gill had helped design the typeface for the Underground branding, and he reached out to his brother Macdonald (Max), a fellow artist and designer, to plan a creative and interesting map showcasing the Underground. The result was Max Gill’s ‘Wonderground Map of London Town’. This was the first of many successful collaborations between Max Gill, Frank Pick, and the London Underground.
After the success of the ‘Wonderground Map of London’, Max Gill was commissioned by Frank Pick and the UERL to try his hand at designing more traditional diagrammatic maps of the Underground. This map of 1922 is a classic example of Gill’s maps which are simple, elegant, and devoid of any unnecessary information. The underlying map of London found on all Underground maps to this point has been completely removed – even the Thames has disappeared. This was likely seen as a step too far as the Thames, at least, would return on subsequent post-Gill designs.

Smooth, curving lines are employed, replacing harsh angles or corners. Interchange stations are now shown with unfilled circles, instead of the messy multi-coloured circles employed on earlier maps. Gill uses entirely unique fonts of his own making on this map. The station names are written in a swirling font reminiscent of medieval writings, whilst the sans-serif ‘UndergrounD’ logo in the title is Gill’s version of the Johnston Sans font first employed in 1919 and now employed across the London Underground.

Printed colour. [LDN6945]