Ocean Liner Design Explored in Landmark V&A Exhibition

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London presents 'Transatlantici: Speed and Style', the first international exhibition on the design and cultural impact of ocean liners, from 3 February to 10 June 2018. Co-organized with the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem and sponsored by Viking Cruises, the show features never-before-seen-in-Europe objects including a Cartier tiara recovered from the 1915 Lusitania wreck and a panel fragment from the Titanic's first-class lounge, returning to the UK for the first time since its 1912 maiden voyage. Highlights include a Christian Dior dress worn by Marlene Dietrich when she arrived in New York aboard the Queen Mary in 1950, and works by modernists Le Corbusier, Albert Gleizes, Charles Demuth, and Eileen Gray. The exhibition traces the design history of luxury liners from the Titanic and Olympic to Art Deco palaces like the Queen Mary and Normandie, exploring how these floating cities symbolized 20th-century progress and modernity.