May 10, 2012 - Sale 2278

Sale 2278 - Lot 126

Price Realized: $ 7,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
EDWARD MCKNIGHT KAUFFER (1898-1969) MUSEUM OF MODERN ART / ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL ART EXPOSITION. 1949.
44 1/2x29 1/2 inches, 113x75 cm. Eldredge, New York.
Condition B+: repaired tears and restoration at edges, some affecting image.
McKnight Kauffer had a one man show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1937 and maintained a good relationship with the institution from that point on. His friends at the museum, Alfred H. Barr and Monroe Wheeler, called on him to design the Museum's catalogue for a 1941 show entitled, "Britain At War," and another catalogue on Organic Design. For the Art Directors, who were designers and ad-men themselves, McKnight Kauffer created a logo; a character with a bow and arrow, synthesizing the desired effect of all the Art Directors' work--sharp, fast, pointed and directly on target, just like this poster! Very few of these posters would have been printed, as the exhibition ran for just over one month. Design and Paper no. 29, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 86.