Maps & imagination

John Ogilby, 'Britannia'

John Ogilby (1600-76)
'Britannia'
1675
Engraving on paper
Published in London
National Art Library pressmark 51.C.1

Ogilby's atlas is the forerunner to the modern road atlas. Its attractive scroll format combines three-dimensional pictorial details with a two-dimensional street map. It directs the traveller on the London to Dover route through reference to landmarks but unlike modern maps, it does not provide orientation, making it appear strange to modern eyes.

Anonymous, mount for a lady's travelling fan1788. Museum no. E.3187-1938

Anonymous
Mount for a lady's travelling fan
1788
Engraving and soft-ground etching on paper, coloured by hand
Published by T. Balster
Museum no. E.3187-1938
Given by Mr. A.K. Sabin

This unfinished fan mount has a list of counties and a wraparound map of England and Wales. England led the way in the 18th century in the sale and export of printed souvenir fans. They featured commemorative or topical events, games or useful facts.

Langlands and Bell, 'Air Routes of the World (Day)'

Langlands and Bell (Ben Langlands born 1955 and Nikki Bell born 1959)
'Air Routes of the World (Day)'
2001
Screenprint on paper
Museum no. E.10-2002
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
© Langlands and Bell

Langlands and Bell work with a variety of media to explore the systems of communication that codify our world. This print diptych is based on the global network of international airline routes. Similar to star constellations in the sky, they offer an alternative map of the world where air travel defines the important locations.

Anonymous, 'Wallis's New Game of Wanderers in the Wilderness'

Anonymous
'Wallis's New Game of Wanderers in the Wilderness'
1818-47
Hand-coloured etching on paper mounted on linen
Published by Edward Wallis, London
Museum no. B.8-1997
Given by Waddington PLC

The designer of this game has represented South America, then unfamiliar and mysterious to most people in Britain, by picturing its major landscape features with the trees, birds and animals characteristic of the region. Urban and manmade culture is ignored, and the entire continent is designated a 'wilderness'.

Langlands and Bell, 'Air Routes of the World (Night)' 2001. Museum no. E.9-2002

Langlands and Bell (Ben Langlands born 1955 and Nikki Bell born 1959)
'Air Routes of the World (Night)'
2001
Screenprint on paper
Museum no. E.9-2002
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
© Langlands and Bell

Langlands and Bell work with a variety of media to explore the systems of communication that codify our world. This print diptych is based on the global network of international airline routes. Similar to star constellations in the sky, they offer an alternative map of the world where air travel defines the important locations.

Jeremy Wood, 'All London Tracks'

Jeremy Wood
'All London Tracks'
2005
Archival inkjet print on paper
Museum no. E.299-2006
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
© Jeremy Wood

Using GPS satellite mapping technology, Jeremy Wood tracked his own movements through London over a period of five years. In this map-narrative, or what he calls a 'visual travel journal', the denser black lines represent the most travelled routes and the red lines are patterns made while flying over London.

Aubry de la Motraye, frontispiece to 'Travels through Europe

Aubry de la Motraye (1674-1743)
Frontispiece to 'Travels through Europe, Asia, and into Part of Africa'
1723
Engraving on paper
Published in London
Museum no. 15370:19

Motraye travelled for 26 years, from Scandinavia to the Middle East and Africa. In his book, he described the history and situation of these regions. This frontispiece, with its globe, marine map and battle scene, suggests the adventures and danger that travel promised during this period.

Tom Phillips, 'Map Walks Nos. 1 and 2'

Tom Phillips (born 1937)
'Map Walks Nos. 1 and 2'
1972-3
Acrylic paint on printed book page and oil paint tint on photograph
Museum no. P.11-1977
© Tom Phillips

These map pieces explore the artist's connections to, and daily experience of, Camberwell and Peckham where he lives and works. They are probably records of his own regular walks. For us, they offer an opportunity to follow in his footsteps and to experience something of his locality, his influence and his inspiration.

Anonymous, 'A Voyage of Discovery or The Five Navigators'

Anonymous
'A Voyage of Discovery or The Five Navigators'
1836
Hand-coloured engraving on paper mounted on linen
Published by William Spooner; printed by Lefevre & Kohlor, London
Museum no. Circ.201-1964

This is a race game, similar to Wallis's New Wanderers in the Wilderness (Museum no. B.8-1997), but here the islands represented are entirely imaginary. However, the artist has incorporated generic landscape features to give plausibility to his invention. The players moved their pieces as directed by a five-star compass (not shown).

Richard Long, 'Sixteen Works'

Richard Long (born 1945)
'Sixteen Works'
1984
Letterpress on paper
Published by Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
National Art Library pressmark X930435
© Richard Long

Walking artist Richard Long has taken inspiration and materials from his walks to create artwork since the 1960s. Word lists of sights, sounds, smells and colours are set out in patterns. They represent sensual records of his journeys, and the shape formed by the sequence of words often mirrors the course of the walks.

Anonymous, mount for a lady's travelling fan1788. Museum no. E.3187-1938

Anonymous
Mount for a lady's travelling fan
1788
Engraving and soft-ground etching on paper, coloured by hand
Published by T. Balster
Museum no. E.3187-1938
Given by Mr. A.K. Sabin

This unfinished fan mount has a list of counties and a wraparound map of England and Wales. England led the way in the 18th century in the sale and export of printed souvenir fans. They featured commemorative or topical events, games or useful facts.

Henry Maxted, 'A Map of a Farm and 12 Pieces of Land thereto Belonging; Lying in the Parish of Reculver in the County of Kent'

Henry Maxted (active about 1730)
'A Map of a Farm and 12 Pieces of Land thereto Belonging; Lying in the Parish of Reculver in the County of Kent'
1730
Pen and watercolour on vellum
Museum no. E.3495-1931
Given by Lady Capel Cure

Maps such as this were legal documents, recording land ownership and marking boundaries, roads and rights of way. They were also useful in estate management. This map mixes diagrammatic features with fanciful pictorial elements. It is colour-coded to distinguish different types of ground.

William Miller, 'Design for municipal sunken gardens'

William Miller (1828-1909)
'Design for municipal sunken gardens'
About 1908
Pen and ink and watercolour on paper
Museum no. E.810-1979

Miller was a noted designer of parks and gardens. As is evident in this plan, his approach to design emphasised the decorative pattern of the layout rather than the three-dimensional aspect of a garden. The pattern would have been executed with brightly coloured bedding plants.

Bob Chaplin, 'Pathway to Firle'

Bob Chaplin (born 1947)
'Pathway to Firle'
1976
Etching and aquatint on paper
Museum no. E.418-1976
© Bob Chaplin

This print offers two complementary views of the same place: one photographic, the other cartographic. This use of map imagery helps us to understand the character of the landscape depicted in the photograph, but it makes clear that neither method of representation can give us a complete picture of a place.

George G. André, 'Draughtsman's Handbook'

George G. André
'Draughtsman's Handbook'
1874
Lithograph on paper
Illustrated by B. Alexander
Published E.&F. Spon, London
National Art Library pressmark 30.B.98

This playful imaginative landscape disguises a utilitarian purpose. Fronting a handbook aimed at encouraging best practice in map drawing, it shows the standard map symbols and labels. It reflects a growing interest in the science of cartography after the Ordnance Survey was set up in 1790.

Simpson, 'A Plan of the Town of St Jago de la Vega in the Island of Jamaica'

Simpson (active about 1775-1800)
'A Plan of the Town of St Jago de la Vega in the Island of Jamaica'
1786
Engraving on paper
Printed and published by W. Hinton, London
Museum no. E.71-1940

This map, dedicated to Sir John Dalling by John Pitcairne, indicates the ownership of specific areas and shows the location of the main public buildings. An area labelled 'The Negroe Market' indicates the town's role in the slave trade at this time.

Susan Stockwell, 'Pattern of the World'

Susan Stockwell (born 1962)
'Pattern of the World'
2000
Dressmaking pattern tissues stained with tea and coffee, pins
Museum no. E.1095-2002
© Susan Stockwell

Using dressmaking patterns stained with tea and coffee, Stockwell has pieced together a fragile map which alludes to Britain's colonial legacy. It shows the ways in which the trade in commodities - tea, coffee, textiles, human labour - has helped to shape the political and economic realities of today's world. It also makes a witty reference to the ongoing debate between the Mercator and Peters' projections of the world map - the piece of pattern tissue at the tip of Africa is printed with the instruction 'Shorten or lengthen here'.

Conrad Atkinson, 'Landscape'

Conrad Atkinson (born 1940)
'Landscape'
1980
Postcard with gouache and wash on paper
Museum no. P.57-1980
© Conrad Atkinson

This collage centres on a postcard view taken in the Lake District, a popular tourist destination. Painted lines radiate from the landscape like contour lines on a map. Each is labelled with words and phrases calling attention to the invisible economic and social problems that pervade this seemingly idyllic setting.

Richard Long, 'Africa Footprints'

Richard Long (born 1945)
'Africa Footprints'
1986
Collotype in brown ink on paper
Museum no. E.340-1986
© Richard Long

This print was made for a famine charity appeal. It reproduces the artist's muddy footprints marking out a map of Africa. Although alluding to Long's own walks, it also suggests the journeys undertaken by poverty-stricken people walking long distances in search of food aid.

Anonymous, Christmas card for Kingfisher plc

Anonymous
Christmas card for Kingfisher plc
About 2005
Blind embossing and offset lithograph on card
Published by Kingfisher plc
Museum no. E.265-2006
Given by Lady Ritblat

Kingfisher plc is one of Europe's leading home improvement retail groups, with customers and suppliers all over the world. The global reach of the brand is wittily illustrated by a world map formed from bird 'footprints' in the snow. It also hints at the company's commitment to corporate responsibility, sustainability and social issues.

Michael Druks, 'Druksland - Physical and Social 15 January 1974

Michael Druks (born 1940)
'Druksland - Physical and Social 15 January 1974, 11.30am'
1974
Offset lithograph on paper
Museum no. E.3010-2007
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
© Michael Druks

Israeli-born conceptual artist Michael Druks has lived and worked in Britain since the 1970s. His self-portrait/map is part of a body of work in which he explored personal and political identity using the idiom of mapping. He saw mapping as a universal vocabulary understood all over the world - 'an experiment to use international and visual language for individual purposes.'

Stephen Walter, 'Similands'

Stephen Walter (born 1975)
'Similands'
2006
Digital inkjet print
Museum no. E.55-2007
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
© Stephen Walter

This print imitates 16th and 17th century maps, but it shows Britain as a single, dense suburb peppered with logos and signs, graffiti and box-like buildings (see detail right).

The occasional green spaces are indicated by the conventional map symbol for trees. Walter sees the print as a satirical comment on the commercialisation and homogenisation of our culture.

John Dilnot, 'Map'

John Dilnot (born 1956)
'Map'
2004
Inkjet print on paper and card
Museum no. E.3177:1 to 3-2007
© John Dilnot

In 'Map' Dilnot targets the urban fixation with a fondly imagined rural past. In a debased form, this romantic idyll saturates mass-produced domestic ornament and packaging. Here, evocatively titled colours from paint charts are arranged as a map of Britain, loosely configured around the real places after which the colours are named.

Susan Stockwell, 'Tea Country'

Susan Stockwell (born 1962)
'Tea Country'
2000
Tea bags, cut and stitched, pasted onto paper
Museum no. E.716-2003
© Susan Stockwell

Stockwell has often used maps to explore the history of trade and economic power. Here, she has stitched together used tea bags to make a simple map. It is a witty allusion to the British obsession with tea-drinking, but also refers indirectly to the legacy of the British empire in India.

London Underground Pocket maps: Emma Kay, 2003. © Emma Kay / London Underground Limited; David Shrigley

London Underground Pocket maps

Emma Kay (born 1961), 2003
© Emma Kay / London Underground Limited

David Shrigley (born 1968), 2005
© David Shrigley / London Underground Limited

Yinka Shonibare (born1962), 2006
© Yinka Shonibare / London Underground Limited

Offset lithography on paper
Published by Transport for London
Given by Platform for Art

Each of these free pocket-sized tube maps has a cover commissioned by Platform for Art for London Underground. To explore ideas about mapping and route-finding, the artists used the colours of the lines from the classic tube map devised by Henry Beck (also in this section). Emma Kay turned the lines into a series of concentric circles, suggesting a tube tunnel. David Shrigley drew the lines as a confused tangle, to be magically clarified and organised when one unfolds the map. Yinka Shonibare's design reflects London's multicultural population and its heritage as the capital of an empire which once spanned 5 continents; he used the Peters projection (1974) which represents the true relative surface areas of each country.

Henry Beck, London Underground map

Henry Beck (1901-74)
London Underground map
1933
Lithograph on paper
Museum no. E.816-1979
Given by Ken Garland Esq

Henry Beck's London Underground map is the most famous transport map in the world, and an icon of 20th-century London. Beck was an unemployed engineer when he first devised the map. Prioritising the relationships between the lines and stations, rather than geographical accuracy, he used a method that recalls electrical circuit systems.

Sam Buxton, Invitation to the Annual Pyramid Awards

Sam Buxton (born 1972)
Invitation to the Annual Pyramid Awards
2007
Laser-cut and chemical-milled stainless steel
Museum no. E.3179-2007
Given by Abraham Thomas
© Sam Buxton

Product designer Sam Buxton's folding models use processes derived from the manufacture of electrical components. Here he has re-created in miniature the neighbourhood of The Circus Space, in London, the venue for the Deutsche Bank's 15th anniversary celebration and Annual Pyramid Awards for innovation and enterprise in the arts.

Anonymous, Petition form against hospital closures

Anonymous
Petition form against hospital closures
1988
Colour offset lithograph on paper
Museum no. E.78-1988
Given by Charles Newton

This card adapts the familiar format of the London Underground map for a petition against proposed hospital closures. Punning on the slang phrase 'going down the tube', it replaces the names of certain stations with those of hospitals under threat.

Simon Patterson, 'The Great Bear' (detail)

Simon Patterson (born 1967)
'The Great Bear' (detail)
1992
Lithograph on paper, in steel frame
Museum no. E.1842-1992
© Simon Patterson

This print replicates the iconic London Underground map in type, layout and even the steel frame as used in stations. But the station names have been replaced by the names of well known people from various spheres of activity. As the title suggests, the map has been wittily reinvented as a constellation of 'stars' in the galaxy of fame.

Neil Wenman, 'No Man's Land'

Neil Wenman (born 1975)
'No Man's Land'
2001
Pencil on cut and layered paper
Museum no. E.3021-2004
Given by the artist
© Neil Wenman

Wenman's drawing was inspired by conversations with cartographer Herman Koch. In 1961, Koch had been responsible for mapping the location of the Berlin Wall. Wenman's declared aim here was to 'map' the history of Berlin in a single layered drawing, showing former land use, such as housing, wells and graveyards, along part of the wall.

Andreas Cellarius, 'Harmonia Macrocosmica'

Andreas Cellarius (1596-1665)
'Harmonia Macrocosmica'
1661
Engraving on paper, coloured by hand
Published by Johannes Jansson, Amsterdam
NAL pressmark 100.C.2

The southern hemisphere constellations were first published in 1598 by mapmaker Petrus Plancius. Taking advantage of Dutch trading in the East Indies, Plancius had asked navigator Pieter Keyser to chart the stars during a 1595 voyage. Previously, European star charts had showed only the stars visible to Ptolemy and the ancient Greeks.

Cornelia Parker, 'Meteorite Misses Waco

Cornelia Parker (born 1956)
'Meteorite Misses Waco, Texas'
2001
Printed atlas with scorched mark and burnt hole
Museum no. E.262-2005
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund

This is from a series called 'Meteorite Lands in the Middle of Nowhere' for which the artist heated a tiny meteorite and scorched six selected place names in the USA on six maps. Some of her meteorites make direct hits, others are near misses, but all the place names have been chosen for their powerful associations.

David Bosun, 'Gelam Nguzu Kazi [Dugong My Son]'

David Bosun (born 1973)
'Gelam Nguzu Kazi [Dugong My Son]'
2001
Linocut on paper
Museum no. E.1092-2002
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
© David Bosun

In the 1990s young artists in the Torres Strait Islands, north of Australia, began to rediscover their local material culture, largely lost under colonialism. They made linocut prints celebrating traditional visual patterns, creation myths and other stories. In this print, the story relates to the shaping of the land itself, described in a map-like narrative.

Edmund Evans, Pictorial map of Palestine

Edmund Evans (1826-1905) after William Harry Rogers (1825-73)
Pictorial map of Palestine
About 1850-1900
Wood engraving on paper
Published by James Nisbet & Co., London
Museum no. E.945:48-1976

Like similar publishers, James Nisbet used stock illustrations to enliven cheaper work. Here biblical scenes add interest and instruction to a pre-existing map. Edmund Evans, the leading wood-engraver in London in the 1860s, was known for his brilliant colours. In this instance, he printed map and illustrations in the same colours for economy.