The Golden Age of the Transatlantic Liner
The Golden Age of the Transatlantic Liner
Lecturer: Brian Healey
The Battle for the Blue Riband dominated Atlantic travel for many decades and the rivalry between the major shipping lines to build the biggest and best leviathans of ocean travel was intense. Ships such as French Line’s Ile de France and Hapag Lloyd’s Imperator rapidly became not just floating works of art but ships of state with stunning décor to match.
This lecture shows how they were adapted to match changing tastes from the elegance of the French château and the heaviness of the Dutch renaissance to the dazzling sophistication of what became known as ‘streamline moderne’. The lecture presents rare archive photographs of interiors from iconic ships such as the original Mauretania to the magnificent, but short- lived Normandie.
Having been a senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years, Brian Healey has since the 1980s also enjoyed a successful parallel career as a professional artist and interior designer.
Since 2006 Brian has been appointed to a number of prestigious ocean and river cruise lines, either as resident artist, guest lecturer on art history or as destination speaker visiting more than forty countries. Most recently this work has successfully extended to art guiding through important towns and museums in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain.