Leslie Ragan’s 1936 poster The Transportation Parade of the Years. Great Lakes Exposition, June 27 to October 4, 1936, Cleveland, Ohio turns the history of travel into a tightly orchestrated procession of machines. A dark blue steam locomotive bears down from above, while a streamlined train, aeroplane and rounded motor car overlap below it. Framed by a vivid orange border, these vehicles seem to surge through the composition in different directions, creating a compact visual account of movement, invention and accelerating modernity.

Designed to promote the Great Lakes Exposition, the poster presents Cleveland as an energetic industrial and cultural centre during the interwar years. Ragan was particularly associated with elegant commercial imagery and transport subjects, and here his command of graphic simplification is used to make machinery feel ceremonial. The exposition becomes not merely a destination but a public spectacle: a place where the achievements of one era could be compared with the streamlined promise of the next. That emphasis on speed and progress is characteristic of 1930s advertising, when trains, aircraft and automobiles offered especially persuasive symbols of modern life.

A closer look

The upper half is dominated by the great blue locomotive, its circular front and heavy body conveying mass and mechanical force. Pale clouds at the upper left provide a softer counterpoint, while the white-and-blue aeroplane at the right cuts across the sky with markedly sleeker lines. Their juxtaposition is particularly effective: steam power appears weighty and monumental, aviation light and aerodynamic. Ragan does not separate the different forms of transport into neat compartments; instead, he lets them overlap as though participating in a single, crowded parade.

In the lower foreground, the grey-and-orange streamlined train forms the poster’s strongest diagonal thrust. Its pointed profile and carefully articulated front give it a sense of forward momentum, while elongated vehicle forms behind it extend the rhythm across the page. At the lower right, a comparatively modest automobile introduces rounded contours, clearly described wheels and warmer brown-grey detailing. Variations in scale make the machines appear to advance and recede, despite the limited shading and largely flat fields of colour.

Typography is integral to this movement. At the top, “The Transportation Parade of the Years” is arranged in a decorative serif face, with “PARADE” enlarged to announce the event’s theatrical character. “GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION” appears more plainly across the centre, while “CLEVELAND OHIO” and the dates occupy the lower portion in firm, legible lettering. The changing weights and styles establish a clear hierarchy without interrupting the flow of vehicles. Cool blue provides the unifying ground; orange supplies the most insistent contrast, and touches of red add further warmth and festivity.

Context and significance

Travel posters of this period had to communicate quickly, often combining destination, event and aspiration within a single emphatic design. Ragan’s solution is unusually apt for an exposition devoted to public display: rather than offering a conventional view of Cleveland, he makes transportation itself the attraction. The city is promoted through the technologies associated with connection, commerce and industrial capability.

The poster’s Art Deco character lies in its streamlined silhouettes, assertive geometry, crisp hierarchy and controlled collision of warm and cool colour. Yet its appeal also comes from the comparison embedded within the composition. The older locomotive, modern train, aeroplane and car are not isolated inventions but participants in a continuous pageant of technological change—an idea expressed with the directness of advertising and the visual drama of a grand civic celebration.

Choosing the right size and finish

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The model in the listing images is holding the 24x36in (60x90cm) version of this art print.

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This artwork is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The work is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present an art print without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas art and explore the differences between my different finishes.