Canada for Big Game c.1939 by Thomas (Tom) Hall | Vintage Canadian Pacific Moose Travel Poster

Canada for Big Game – A Bold Canadian Pacific Wildlife and Travel Poster

Celebrate Canada’s immense wilderness, iconic wildlife, and golden age of railway travel with Canada for Big Game, a powerful 1939 travel poster created by artist Thomas “Tom” Hall for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Designed to attract international visitors interested in Canadian outdoor adventures, the poster features an enormous bull moose moving through deep blue water. Its monumental antlers stretch across nearly the entire upper composition, immediately establishing the animal as a symbol of Canada’s vast northern forests and abundant wildlife.

The moose is shown at close range, its dark body emerging from the water as white and green waves break across its chest. Warm orange-brown highlights illuminate the animal’s face, while its massive black silhouette creates extraordinary contrast against the bright yellow sky.

A narrow line of blue evergreen trees appears along the distant horizon. This simplified forest is enough to establish a remote Canadian wilderness without distracting from the central animal. The reduction of the landscape to flat fields of color gives the artwork its striking modern appearance.

The composition uses an exceptionally bold palette of golden yellow, dark brown, black, cobalt blue, turquoise green, white, and burnt orange. These concentrated colors and simplified shapes reflect the influence of Art Deco, modernist design, and silkscreen-like graphic techniques.

The moose’s antlers provide the poster’s most commanding visual feature. Their broad, sculptural forms frame the upper section and create a natural crown above the animal. The exaggerated scale turns the moose into an unforgettable emblem of Canadian wildlife.

Large green lettering reading “Canada for Big Game” anchors the lower half of the design. Beneath it, the text directs travelers to obtain full information from Canadian Pacific, described in the poster as the “World’s Greatest Travel System.”

The phrase “Big Game” reflects the historical language of tourism and outdoor recreation used when the poster was created. Canadian railway companies promoted wilderness excursions, guided trips, fishing, hunting, mountain resorts, national parks, and scenic travel as ways for international visitors to experience the country’s vast landscapes.

The Canadian Pacific Railway played an essential role in developing and advertising tourism throughout Canada. Its trains, hotels, steamships, travel agencies, and promotional campaigns helped introduce destinations across the country to visitors from the United States, Britain, Europe, and beyond.

Posters commissioned by Canadian Pacific frequently featured mountains, lakes, forests, wildlife, winter sports, railway journeys, and outdoor adventure. These designs helped establish enduring visual ideas about Canada as a land of extraordinary scale, natural beauty, and untamed wilderness.

Thomas Hall’s composition is especially effective because it avoids narrative detail. There are no hunters, trains, buildings, or crowds. Instead, the moose alone represents the destination, allowing the viewer to imagine a direct encounter with Canadian nature.

Created in 1939, the artwork belongs to the final years of the great interwar travel-poster era. Its monumental animal, limited color palette, clean typography, and sharply divided landscape demonstrate the confidence of late Art Deco commercial design.

Today, the poster appeals not only as historical travel advertising but also as bold wildlife art. Its commanding moose and saturated colors make it particularly effective in cabins, lodges, rustic homes, lake houses, offices, studies, man caves, hotels, restaurants, outdoor stores, and Canadian-themed interiors.

This museum-grade reproduction makes an excellent gift for wildlife lovers, railway collectors, travelers, outdoor enthusiasts, moose admirers, and anyone who appreciates the rugged beauty of vintage Canadian design.

Why Collectors Love This Print

• Reproduces a striking 1939 Canadian Pacific travel poster by Thomas Hall
• Features an enormous bull moose with magnificent broad antlers
• Celebrates Canada’s wilderness, wildlife, forests, and outdoor adventure
• Preserves the historic “Canada for Big Game” tourism message
• Displays the original Canadian Pacific travel-system branding
• Uses a dramatic yellow, blue, green, black, white, and orange palette
• Simplifies the landscape into powerful modernist bands of color
• Demonstrates the monumental wildlife imagery of late Art Deco advertising
• Represents the golden age of Canadian railway and tourism posters
• Appeals to collectors of Canadian Pacific and vintage railroad memorabilia
• Functions beautifully as both travel advertising and wildlife wall art
• Creates a commanding focal point in cabins, lodges, and rustic interiors
• Complements outdoors, masculine, Art Deco, and Canadian-themed décor
• Makes a memorable gift for wildlife enthusiasts and railway collectors
• Preserves the visual character of a historic Canadian travel advertisement

Available Print & Display Options

• Fine Art Prints – A versatile unframed option for custom framing and traditional gallery presentation
• Framed Fine Art Prints – Professionally presented for an elegant, ready-to-display appearance
• Gallery-Wrapped Canvas – A dimensional canvas format with the artwork wrapped around the edges
• Black Floater Frame Canvas – A dramatic presentation that emphasizes the moose’s dark silhouette
• White Floater Frame Canvas – A crisp contrasting option that brightens the colorful wilderness scene
• Brown Floater Frame Canvas – A warm finish ideal for cabins, lodges, studies, and rustic interiors
• Natural Floater Frame Canvas – An organic presentation that pairs beautifully with the wildlife subject
• Metal Prints – A sleek contemporary format that intensifies the bright yellow sky and deep blue water

Every display option preserves the monumental moose, evergreen horizon, moving water, historic Canadian Pacific lettering, and powerful Art Deco-era palette. Select the material and presentation that best complements your wildlife collection or interior.

Artwork Details

• Title: Canada for Big Game
• Artist: Thomas “Tom” Hall
• Date: 1939
• Country of Origin: Canada
• Advertiser: Canadian Pacific Railway
• Original Purpose: Railway, tourism, wilderness, and outdoor-recreation advertising
• Subject: Bull moose moving through water in a Canadian wilderness setting
• Style: Canadian Art Deco travel advertising, modernist wildlife illustration, and vintage railway design
• Primary Colors: Golden yellow, cobalt blue, turquoise green, black, dark brown, white, and burnt orange
• Notable Imagery: Bull moose, massive antlers, forest horizon, blue water, white waves, and Canadian Pacific typography
• Recommended Spaces: Cabins, lodges, lake houses, rustic homes, offices, studies, man caves, hotels, restaurants, outdoor stores, and galleries

Disclaimer

This artwork is a Museum Grade Reproduction of a Historical advertising poster. It is not the original 1939 poster and is offered as a decorative fine-art reproduction. The historical “Big Game” tourism language is preserved as part of the original artwork and should not be interpreted as a modern recommendation concerning hunting or wildlife management. Minor variations in color, cropping, texture, and visible age-related characteristics may occur depending on the selected size, material, and display format.

Yesterday’s Posters is an independent seller and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Canadian Pacific, Thomas Hall, any Canadian tourism authority, railway operator, company, estate, institution, or rights holder.