Drawing, Design for Manhattan Records Label

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See more objects with the tag multicolored, music, squares, geometric, primary colors, graphic identity.

Object Timeline

1979	Work on this object began.
1989	Work on this object ended.
1996	We acquired this object.
2013	We photographed this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2017	We photographed this object.
2018	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Drawing, Design for Manhattan Records Label

This is a Drawing. It was designed by Paula Scher. It is dated ca. 1984 and we acquired it in 1996. Its medium is pen and red, black ink, color pencil, red marking pen, collage on tracing paper mounted on board. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Scher’s inspiration for this record label came from Piet Mondrian’s celebrated 1942–43 painting Broadway Boogie Woogie, a square canvas covered in an irregular grid of primary colors—a response to the street grid of Manhattan and the syncopated beats of jazz music. In this working drawing, the designer calls out the PMS (Pantone Matching System) numbers for each color.

This object was donated by Paula Scher. It is credited Gift of Paula Scher.

A poster with the slogan 'atoms for peace; above multlicolored blocks forming a large central triangle. The boxes vary in shape from triangle, square, rectangle and quadilateral in colors of red, white, brown, green, yellow, light blue, blue and orange. An atomic symbol in a black circle hovers over the pinnacle. The words General Dynamics are written at the base of the triangle.

Poster, Atoms for Peace, 1955
offset lithograph on paper.
Gift of Arthur Cohen and Daryl Otte in memory of Bill Moggridge.
2013-42-10

Tall irregular triangular bodied glass vase with a wavy edged lip. It is made of fused squares of transparent blue, aquamarine, red and clear glass in a varient repetition.

Pezzato Vase
fused colored glass squares, reheated, blown and shaped.
Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment in honor of Piera Maria....
1998-54-1

Poster, Designtalk: Lecture Series at Cooper Union

Poster, Designtalk: Lecture Series at Cooper Union
lithograph on heavy white paper.
Gift of Milton Glaser.
1997-28-1

Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

Drawing, Study 135 #3, Transcription of "Ave Maria," a Sacred Melody Adapted to the First Prelude of J. S. Bach by Charles Gounod

Drawing, Study 135 #3, Transcription of "Ave Maria," a Sacred Melody Adapted...
color pencil, graphite on cream wove paper.
Gift of the Estate of John De Cesare.
1982-25-57

Sample, Ribbons
81% cotton, 19% polyester.
Gift of Alexander H. Girard.
1969-165-63

Drawing, Vegetation Proposal for Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY

Drawing, Vegetation Proposal for Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY
graphite, color pencil, pen and black ink on tracing paper.
Gift of Michael Van Valkenburgh.
2018-13-2

Its dimensions are

20.5 x 21.2 cm (8 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Drawing, Design for Manhattan Records Label; Designed by Paula Scher (American, b. 1948); USA; pen and red, black ink, color pencil, red marking pen, collage on tracing paper mounted on board; 20.5 x 21.2 cm (8 1/16 x 8 3/8 in.); Gift of Paula Scher; 1996-88-6

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2DBgc/
Accession Number 1996-88-6
Object ID 18654261