"Fort Worth" Vintage Delta Airlines Travel Poster by John Hardy, circa 1950s

This is a vintage Fort Worth travel poster for Delta Airlines, issued in the 1950s. A very collectible poster, the composition shows a man in a cowboy hat, set against a bright yellow background. The poster was designed by John Hardy. 

Delta Air Lines was founded in 1925 as a fleet of crop-dusting planes in the Mississippi River Delta, which is how it earned its name. Passenger flights began in 1929 across the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas area and grew over time, with offered flights across the country and eventually to international destinations. In 1959, Delta was the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-8 and it was also the first to fly the Convair 880 jet in 1960; two large moments in aviation history. 

A major airline in the United States, Delta has always invested in promotional print advertising, hiring numerous artists for magazines and poster work. In the 1950s and 60s, Delta hired artist John Hardy to create a series of hand-pulled silkscreen posters, highlighting some of their top destinations. These portrait-oriented posters had bold, vibrant colors and modern graphics, and are coveted by collectors today for the technical execution of a multi-color silkscreen printing. 

John Hardy was born in Tours, France and moved to Brooklyn when he was six. He spent his childhood living in New York and Virginia, before he served in the U.S. Army during WWII. After the war, he taught painting and drawing at the Atlanta College of Art, the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, and at New York University. He graduated from George State College with a degree in Visual Arts in 1969. His illustration and design work can be found in the collections of The Brooklyn Museum, The National Museum of American Art, the U.S. State Department, and more. 

CONDITION:

Good condition. Multi-color silkscreen. The colors are vibrant, without fading. The poster is linen-backed.  Paper is healthy, with only minor creases and repaired short tears. Poster dimensions: 28" H x 21 7/8" W. 

Poster is artfully presented in a custom black wooden frame with UV Plexiglass. Framed Dimensions: 30 1/4" H x 24" W x 3/4" D.