A. M. Cassandre burst onto the Paris scene in the mid-‘20s and was soon recognized as the father of a new, Machine Age poster style. His travel posters were so revolutionary that he essentially reinvented travel poster design. Strongly influenced by modern art, Cassandre’s work shocked the public with its dynamic compositions, abstract geometry, new typographic styles, and tight interplay of word and image. Unlike his predecessors who portrayed travel destinations, Cassandre focused on the transportation marvels of the Machine Age. This poster promoted the North Star, a premier luxury train, which combined service across five railroads (referred to around the poster’s edges). Cassandre's design of stylized train tracks merging into the horizon crowned by a white star is one of the most compelling of the Art Deco period. Cassandre’s talent became widely recognized in the late ‘20s, and he became the first poster artist to be honored with a one-man show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1936. He is generally considered the greatest poster artist of the century.