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Object Timeline

2000

  • Work on this object began.

2013

2024

  • You found it!

Poster, Book of the Dead/Second Avenue, The Public Theater

This is a Poster. It was designed by Paula Scher. It is dated 2000 and we acquired it in 2013. Its medium is inkjet print on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Paula Scher’s work for The Public Theater began in 1994 when she was retained by the The Public’s producer, George C. Wolfe, to design the organization’s graphic identity. In seeking to provide a visual identity that responded to the theater’s mission as an accessible community theater, Scher drew inspiration from the streets of New York City to create a series of graphics that responded to both the grid-structure of the streets and the urban language of graffiti.
The posters that Scher designed for The Public Theater have become iconic emblems—not only of the plays that they advertised, but of the cultural moments in which they were produced. Scher’s designs reference the pervasive social, economic and political issues of the time. The museum is perpetually interested in adding the work of National Design Award winners to the permanent collection.

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

  • Canoe Prow (New Zealand)
  • carved wood, red ocher.
  • Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian....
  • 15.2012.18

Its dimensions are

116.8 x 76.2 cm (46 x 30 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, Book of the Dead/Second Avenue, The Public Theater; Designed by Paula Scher (American, b. 1948); USA; inkjet print on paper; 116.8 x 76.2 cm (46 x 30 in.); Gift of Paula Scher; 2013-25-3

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

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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/51689461/ |title=Poster, Book of the Dead/Second Avenue, The Public Theater |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=26 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>