Pamphlet, Posters by E. McKnight Kauffer, Museum of Modern Art

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

Kauffer’s solo exhibition opened in 1937 at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, introducing his posters to American audiences. Aldous Huxley wrote the catalog’s foreword. Kauffer designed the cover and contributed text on his biography and technique. Writing to Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the museum’s director, Kauffer expressed a crisis of confidence: “My feelings were mixed—sometimes pride and sometimes a sense that I had done so little that was worthwhile.”

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