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Object Timeline

1985

  • Work on this object began.

1995

  • We acquired this object.

2013

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, The Balcony

This is a Poster. It was designed by Art Chantry and made for (as the client) The New City Theatre. It is dated 1985 and we acquired it in 1995. Its medium is offset lithograph on white wove paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Jean Genet’s 1957 play, The Balcony, is set in a brothel where male patrons take on roles of social power—bishop, judge, and general—while an uprising unfolds on the streets outside. By the play’s end, the authority figures they’ve been portraying have been killed in the revolution. In Chantry’s poster, the blocked eyes suggest a mental state of self-delusion, while the blindfold represents a tool of physical dominance (one often used in brothels). The photograph depicts the playwright.

This object was donated by Art Chantry. It is credited Gift of Art Chantry.

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Its dimensions are

H x W: 61.1 × 45.2 cm (24 1/16 × 17 13/16 in.)

It is inscribed

Imprinted in white ink, upper right: FUNDED IN PART BY SEATTLE ARTS COMMISION, WASHINGTON STATE ARTS COMMISSION, AND NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS / DESIGN BY ART CHANTRY

Cite this object as

Poster, The Balcony; Designed by Art Chantry (American, b. 1954); Client: The New City Theatre (United States); USA; offset lithograph on white wove paper; H x W: 61.1 × 45.2 cm (24 1/16 × 17 13/16 in.); Gift of Art Chantry; 1995-69-45

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition How Posters Work.

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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://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18651879/ |title=Poster, The Balcony |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>