Printed Originals presents
David Klein Fly TWA · original posters, 1955–1967
- Paris: printed 1959 or later. Gate 1, Departures, the poster beside this board. Departed: sold, in our archive.
- New York: printed 1959 or later. Gate 3, Times Square. Now boarding: available.
- London: printed 1959 or later. Gate 4, Date it by the logo. Departed: sold, in our archive.
- Switzerland: printed 1959 or later. Gate 5, Switzerland, close up. Now boarding: available.
- Greece: printed 1959 or later. Gate 4, Date it by the logo. Now boarding: available.
- Los Angeles: printed about 1967. Gate 4, Date it by the logo. Now boarding: available.
- Germany: printed 1959 or later. Gate 4, Date it by the logo. Now boarding: available.
- Portugal: printed about 1958. Gate 2, The Constellation years. Now boarding: available.
- Disneyland: printed about 1955 to 1958. Gate 2, The Constellation years. Now boarding: available.
- The Orient: printed 1959 or later. Gate 4, Date it by the logo. Now boarding: available.
Time is the printing year, read from the aircraft and the logo on the poster: 1959+ means a jet. Gates are the sections of this page. Remarks: boarding means available now; departed means sold, kept in our archive.
Gate 2 · The Constellation years, 1955–58
Now boarding: propellers.
Klein drew for TWA from about 1955 to 1965. His first designs fly the Lockheed Constellation, a propeller airliner. TWA’s first pure-jet service ran in 1959. So a Constellation in the sky means an early printing.
Paris · c.1957SFO Museum holds this design and dates it about 1957. The statue is Pryas’s Le Matin, at the Palais de Chaillot. “DAVID” is printed on the pink pillar.
Available · from £1,420.00 · View this poster →
Disneyland · c.1955–58The TWA Moonliner, which TWA sponsored at the park from July 1955 to 1961, with a Constellation overhead. The Klein credit rests on trade listings.
Available · from £15,320.00 · View this poster →
Portugal · c.1958A Constellation over the Jerónimos Monastery, “Trans World Airlines” along the foot. A dealer identifies the statue as a hippocampus in Empire Square, Lisbon.
Available · from £470.00 · View this poster →
Final call for propellers. From 1959, TWA flew jets.
Gate 3 · Times Square, MoMA and the jet
New York, 1956. MoMA took one home.
Klein drew Times Square for TWA in 1956. The Museum of Modern Art acquired it in 1957, a gift of TWA: a photolithograph, 40 x 25 in. The poster is part silkscreen, part photolithograph. The poster dealer Nicholas Lowry ranks it among the finest pictures of Times Square.
The first printing flies a Constellation. TWA kept reprinting the design, and later printings fly a jet with a vapour trail. We hold two copies. Both fly the jet.
Seat A · our first copy
- Aircraft
- A jet silhouette with a vapour trail
- Printed
- 1959 or later: a later lifetime printing
- Mark
- A small white printed mark, lower right, too soft to read in our photograph
- Imprint
- A short line at the foot, illegible in the photograph
Seat B · our second copy
- Aircraft
- The same jet, the same trail
- Printed
- 1959 or later: the same jet edition
- Mark
- The same small white mark, in the same place
- Imprint
- A longer line. Perhaps a different print run; we are checking it in hand
The scarce one is the Constellation first printing. Ours are the jet: printed in Klein’s lifetime, and later.
Gate 4 · The collector’s lesson
Date it by the logo.
TWA reprinted Klein’s designs for years and kept updating the sky. Choose a stop on the flight path. The posters printed at that stop light up.
Look for propellers.
A Constellation in the sky. TWA’s first pure-jet service ran in 1959, so a Constellation printing comes before it: about 1955 to 1958.
In our stock: Paris c.1957, Disneyland and Portugal at gate 2, and this second Portugal.
Look for a jet.
A jet silhouette, and often the words “Fly TWA Jets”. TWA flew its first jet service in 1959, so these printings are 1959 or later.
Most of our Kleins board here: Paris in fireworks, all three New Yorks, Switzerland, and the five below.
Look for two globes.
From April 1962 to 1975, TWA’s logo sat in Loewy’s twin globes. A poster that carries them was printed in 1962 or later.
Only one of ours carries the globes: Los Angeles.
Look for the strapline.
TWA launched its “up up and away” campaign in 1967. Our Los Angeles carries the line at its foot, beside the twin-globes logo. So this copy was printed around 1967.
The latest printing we hold. Klein’s script signature is printed on the red wall.
To Portugal
- Clue
- Constellation
- Printed
- c.1958
No “Trans World Airlines” band, unlike our other copy. We are checking it in hand.
Available · from £395.00 · View this poster →
To The Orient
- Clue
- Jet silhouette
- Printed
- 1959 or later
A dancing figure on red cloth. Attributed to Klein by the trade.
Available · from £540.00 · View this poster →
To Germany
- Clue
- Fly TWA Jets
- Printed
- 1959 or later
A white figure and a wrought-iron sign on orange.
Available · from £510.00 · View this poster →
To London
- Clue
- Fly TWA Jets
- Printed
- 1959 or later
Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Signature printed in the margin.
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
To Greece
- Clue
- Fly TWA Jets
- Printed
- 1959 or later
A bearded face and a carved relief. Signature on the diagonal.
Available · from £675.00 · View this poster →
To Los Angeles
- Clue
- Twin globes, up up and away
- Printed
- c.1967
A sunburst, mission bells and white birds.
Available · from £990.00 · View this poster →
Why it matters
A reproduction copies everything: the plane, the logo, the printed signature. 20x200’s modern giclée of Fly TWA New York, on cotton rag, is one example. So the logo dates the printing a design comes from, not the paper in your hands. For the paper, see gate 8.
Gate 5 · Close reading · TWA Switzerland
Switzerland. Five checks before take-off.
Gate 6 · Signatures
Printed name. No pen.
Klein signed the artwork, not the posters. His name is printed into the design, usually a small script “David Klein” near the foot; Paris c.1957 reads “DAVID” in capitals. 7 of ours carry a printed name. 4 more have a small printed mark too soft to read in our photographs. 3 show none: unsigned originals, printed for TWA in Klein’s lifetime. We have found no hand-signed Klein poster.
Plate-signed
His signature is part of the printed design, so every copy of that printing carries it. This is normal for his TWA posters. It does not mean hand-signed.
On this poster: “David Klein” in script below the lion, printed in the same ink as the image. Available · from £460.00 · View this poster →
Show all 7 in the archive ↓
Unsigned original
Printed for TWA in Klein’s lifetime, with no signature we can find. Auction houses catalogue his TWA posters as unsigned. Still an original printing: made with the artist, not after.
On this poster: the lower left corner of Portugal: no printed name and no pen. Available · from £395.00 · View this poster →
Show all 3 in the archive ↓Hand-signed
Signed by Klein in pen on that copy. We have not found one. His TWA posters were issued unsigned, and auction houses catalogue them that way.
Gate 8 · Collecting
Original or reproduction? Check your ticket.
- Size about 40 x 25 in (101 x 63.5 cm)
- Paper thin poster paper, often with age and fold wear
- Printer a tiny line, such as “Litho in U.S.A.”
- Print lithograph or silkscreen, never inkjet
How do I tell an original TWA poster from a reproduction?
Check four things. Size: originals are about 40 x 25 in (101 x 63.5 cm); reproductions come in other sizes, such as the 20x200 edition at 14 x 11 to 40 x 30 in. Paper: originals are thin poster paper, often with age and fold wear; reproductions are heavy, bright and smooth. Printer line: originals often carry a tiny “Litho in U.S.A.” line. Print: originals are lithograph or silkscreen, not inkjet.
Why do two copies of one design show different aircraft?
TWA reprinted popular designs for years. When jets replaced propeller planes from 1959, the artwork was updated. Times Square first appeared in 1956 with a Constellation; later printings fly a jet with a vapour trail. The plane and the logo date the printing. A modern reproduction copies whichever version it was made from.
Was it printed in Klein’s lifetime?
Klein died in 2005, and TWA printed his posters from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. So any period TWA printing is a lifetime piece. A Constellation means about 1955 to 1958; “Fly TWA Jets” and a jet mean 1959 or later; the twin globes mean 1962 or later.
Hand-signed, plate-signed, unsigned original, after: what do they mean?
Hand-signed means Klein signed that copy in pen; we have none. Plate-signed means his signature is printed in the design, as on most of our TWA posters. Unsigned original means a lifetime printing with no signature we can find. After means a later reproduction, which copies the printed signature too. A printed signature is normal for these posters and does not add or take away value.
Can I see more detail before I buy?
Yes. Ask us for detailed photographs of any poster: the signature, the printer line, the edges and the back.
Condition and framing
We grade condition in six steps and describe every mark (condition grading). Framing is optional, and all our framing is conservation framing (framing original posters).