![Graphic design for a wide horizontal poster, in crisp white, red, deep blue, and black. The design is painted slightly crooked on a sheet of creamy white paper with yellowed tape marks along the top edge and a torn-off bottom left corner. In the photograph, the design is level and the paper's edges are crooked. Within the design at center left, a large white arrow with a red cross in it points down to the right toward [GIVE] in large white italicized letters. The smaller text above reads [KEEP YOUR - RED CROSS AT HIS SIDE] in white, blue, and red letters. [YOUR -] is blue, written within the white arrow. [RED CROSS] is deep red against a black background. [KEEP YOUR -] are italicized, another dynamic angle in the simple design. The background is divided between black and blue, with the dividing line crossing from the bottom left corner up to the upper right edge. The edge is sketchy, with black shading into blue. The design is signed [E. McKnight Kauffer] in small white letters at bottom right.]( https://images.collection.cooperhewitt.org/55874_9206b62f05dac6b9_b.jpg
"Drawing, Design for Give")
There is one other image of this object. See our image rights statement.
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Object Timeline
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1944 |
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1963 |
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2013 |
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2015 |
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Drawing, Design for Give
This is a Drawing. It was designed by E. McKnight Kauffer and made for (as the client) American Red Cross. It is dated 1944 and we acquired it in 1963. Its medium is brush and gouache with graphite. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
Kauffer created many posters in support of the war effort. His design for the Red Cross was so effective that the organization printed millions of copies, using the work on everything from billboards to postcards. To promote the anti-Nazi resistance leader Josip Broz Tito, Kauffer framed his portrait in arrows, pointing outward to suggest progress and change. In appreciation of his war-relief efforts, Kauffer was named an honorary adviser to the United Nations’ Department of Public Information in 1947.
This object was
donated by
Mrs. Edward McKnight Kauffer.
It is credited Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer.
Its dimensions are
25.4 × 44.6 cm (10 in. × 17 9/16 in.)
It is signed
Signed in white gouache, lower right: E. McKnight Kauffer
Cite this object as
Drawing, Design for Give; Designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer (American, active England, 1890–1954); Client: American Red Cross; USA; brush and gouache with graphite; 25.4 × 44.6 cm (10 in. × 17 9/16 in.); Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer; 1963-39-599
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.
