Original sketch for the London Underground Railways Map
Drawing
1931 (Drawn)
1931 (Drawn)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
All versions and imitations of the modern London underground map derive from this first rough sketch. Beck, an electrical engineer and draughtsman, applied the principles of drawing complex electrical circuitry as an idealized diagram to map making, showing only the relationships and not the distances between various points. The geographically accurate map that had been in use since 1919 was becoming difficult to read, as the inclusion of the new stations in the suburbs to scale meant that the inner areas showed the central stations in a confusing cluster. This apparently simple and obvious idea of a diagram was completely new, and took some time to be accepted by the management, although the public took to it immediately. Virtually all metro systems throughout the world now use Beck's idea.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Original sketch for the London Underground Railways Map (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil and coloured inks on squared paper pasted onto card |
| Brief description | Original sketch for the London Underground Railways Map, 1931. Henry C. Beck |
| Physical description | Rough sketch showing London Underground lines in a crude diagrammatic form |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Inscribed on back in red ink 1 TOP and labelled with a typed notice and signed by the donor, with details of the design etc. |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Given by Ken Garland Esq |
| Object history | This diagram was given by Henry Beck to Ken Garland in 1965. A printed copy of the first edition of the completed map, dated 1-[19]33 and of the second, presumed also to be 1933, were also given by Mr Garland to the Museum in 1979. See nos. E.815-1979 and E.816-1979. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | All versions and imitations of the modern London underground map derive from this first rough sketch. Beck, an electrical engineer and draughtsman, applied the principles of drawing complex electrical circuitry as an idealized diagram to map making, showing only the relationships and not the distances between various points. The geographically accurate map that had been in use since 1919 was becoming difficult to read, as the inclusion of the new stations in the suburbs to scale meant that the inner areas showed the central stations in a confusing cluster. This apparently simple and obvious idea of a diagram was completely new, and took some time to be accepted by the management, although the public took to it immediately. Virtually all metro systems throughout the world now use Beck's idea. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.814-1979 |
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| Record created | July 1, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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