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Object Timeline

1923

  • Work on this object began.

1963

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2019

2021

2024

  • You found it!

Poster, Museum of Natural History

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 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

96.4 × 62.2 cm (37 15/16 × 24 1/2 in.)

It is signed

Printed in script, in gray ink, center left: e. mcknight; center right: kauffer-

It is inscribed

Printed in black ink, lower left: 418. 1000. 6.4.23.; lower right: VINCENT BROOKS, DAY & SON, LTD. LITH. LONDON. W.C.2.

Cite this object as

Poster, Museum of Natural History; Designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer (American, active England, 1890–1954); Printed by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son; Client: Underground Electric Railways of London Company Ltd.; USA; lithograph; 96.4 × 62.2 cm (37 15/16 × 24 1/2 in.); Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer; 1963-39-25

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/18447547/ |title=Poster, Museum of Natural History |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=24 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>