The Peabody Essex Museum's (PEM) new exhibition "Ocean Liners: Glamour, Speed and Style," in Salem Mass., highlights how ocean liners impacted design and culture.

The exhibition explores ocean liners not only as means of transportation, but as “showcases of opulence, technology and social sophistication,” according to a release by PEM, by displaying almost two-hundred works of design and engineering from the mid-19th through late-20th centuries.

Kenneth Shoesmith, Cunard Line, Europe, America, 1929, color lithograph. Gift of the estate of Francis B. C. Bradlee, 1928, M11215.
Courtesy Bob Packert and Cunard, via the Peabody Essex Museum Kenneth Shoesmith, Cunard Line, Europe, America, 1929, color lithograph. Gift of the estate of Francis B. C. Bradlee, 1928, M11215.

The large-scale traveling exhibition is co-organized with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, and features an array of pieces including paintings, sculptures, photographs, film, posters, furniture, wall panels, lighting, models, fashion, and textiles.

The architecture and design of ocean liners was a “fantasy experience,” said Dan Finamore, PEM’s Russell W. Knight curator of maritime art and history, in the release by PEM. “No form of transport was as romantic, remarkable or contested as the ocean liner and their design became a matter of national prestige.”

PEM was founded in 1799 by sea captains and merchant traders, and has collected thousands of ocean-liner related pieces since 1870. Similarly, the V&A has been collecting ship models and ocean liner-related pieces since the 19th and 20th centuries. The show will be on display at the PEM until Oct. 9.

Charles Demuth, Paquebot Paris, 1921–22. Oil on canvas. Columbus Art Museum, Gift of Ferdinand Howald.
Courtesy Columbus Art Museum via Peabody Essex Museum Charles Demuth, Paquebot Paris, 1921–22. Oil on canvas. Columbus Art Museum, Gift of Ferdinand Howald.
Courtesy Cunard via Peabody Essex Museum
Courtesy Cunard via Peabody Essex Museum
F. Earl Christy, Design for a poster for the White Star Line and Moet & Chandon, about 1912. Oil on canvas.
Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum F. Earl Christy, Design for a poster for the White Star Line and Moet & Chandon, about 1912. Oil on canvas.
Jenny of Paris, Emilie Grigsby evening dress, about 1926. Textile. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of Mrs. Sanford S. Clark, 1971, 132655.
Courtesy Walter Silver via Peabody Essex Museum Jenny of Paris, Emilie Grigsby evening dress, about 1926. Textile. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of Mrs. Sanford S. Clark, 1971, 132655.
Jean -Maurice Rothschild, Side chair from the Grand Salon on board the S.S. Normandie, 1934. Gilt wood, patinated metal, and wool tapestry upholstery. Peabody Essex Museum, Museum purchase, 2015.10.1.
Courtesy Walter Silver via Peabody Essex Museum Jean -Maurice Rothschild, Side chair from the Grand Salon on board the S.S. Normandie, 1934. Gilt wood, patinated metal, and wool tapestry upholstery. Peabody Essex Museum, Museum purchase, 2015.10.1.
Bremen, 1:144 illuminated waterline model, about 1931–3 Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of Leon Lawrence Sidell, 1969, M13662.
Courtesy Walter Silver via Peabody Essex Museum Bremen, 1:144 illuminated waterline model, about 1931–3 Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of Leon Lawrence Sidell, 1969, M13662.