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Object Timeline

1992

  • Work on this object began.

1996

2014

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, WAC Is Watching

This is a Poster. It was designed by Marlene McCarty and made for (as the client) Women's Action Coalition. It is dated 1992 and we acquired it in 1996. Its medium is offset color lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Founded in 1992, the Women’s Action Coalition (WAC) staged public demonstrations or "actions" to raise the visibility of women in art, culture, and society. The wide-open eye logo, designed by Marlene McCarty and Bethany Johns, signaled that WAC’s members were paying attention. The poster was watching, and so was WAC.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Women’s Action is Women’s Power.

This object was donated by Marlene McCarty and Donald Moffett. It is credited Gift of Marlene McCarty.

  • Poster, Symphony of a Big City
  • lithograph on off-white wove paper.
  • Museum purchase from Drawings and Prints Council and General Acquisitions....
  • 2008-1-1
  •

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Its dimensions are

H x W: 57 × 57 cm (22 7/16 × 22 7/16 in.)

It is inscribed

Imprinted, lower left corner: Printing donated by Brand X.

Cite this object as

Poster, WAC Is Watching; Designed by Marlene McCarty (American, b. 1957); Client: Women's Action Coalition; USA; offset color lithograph on paper; H x W: 57 × 57 cm (22 7/16 × 22 7/16 in.); Gift of Marlene McCarty; 1996-44-1

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

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://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18653641/ |title=Poster, WAC Is Watching |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>