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Object Timeline

1922

  • Work on this object began.

1923

  • Work on this object ended.

1963

  • We acquired this object.

2013

2015

2021

2024

  • You found it!

Poster, London History at the London Museum

This is a Poster. It was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer and printed by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son and made for (as the client) Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd.. It is dated 1922, printed 1923 and we acquired it in 1963. Its medium is lithograph. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

A new series promoting easy access by Underground to London museums featured objects that Kauffer selected from the institutions’ collections. For the first poster, advertising a geology museum, Kauffer illustrated a massive angular stibnite. The Underground received so many inquiries from a baffled public that it was necessary to issue a definition of the mineral formation. For each poster in the series, Kauffer tried out a different stylistic approach. The designs sparked debate in the press for their varied uses of abstraction.

This object was donated by Mrs. Edward McKnight Kauffer. It is credited Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer.

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

Its dimensions are

101.6 × 59.8 cm (40 in. × 23 9/16 in.)

It is signed

Printed in script, in grey ink, center right: E.McK. KAUFFER. 22

It is inscribed

Printed in grey ink, lower left: 171. 1000. 8-2-23.; lower right: VINCENT BROOKS DAY & SON LTD. LITH. LONDON. w.C.2.

Cite this object as

Poster, London History at the London Museum; Designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer (American, active England, 1890–1954); Printed by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son; Client: Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd.; England; lithograph; 101.6 × 59.8 cm (40 in. × 23 9/16 in.); Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer; 1963-39-24

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18447525/ |title=Poster, London History at the London Museum |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>