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Object Timeline

2005

  • Work on this object began.

2007

2016

2025

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Poster, Self Promotion: This Being a First in a Series of Posters, Featuring an Exaltation of Protean Ornament and Other Fancy Stuff

This is a Poster. It was designed by Marian Bantjes. It is dated 2005 and we acquired it in 2007. Its medium is off-set lithograph on white wove paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

In this poster by Marian Bantjes, the influence of The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones is evident, as are more direct sources such as Islamic writing and arabesque ornament. The text refers to the many influences that have shaped Bantjes’s design aesthetic, including gothic lettering, Arts and Crafts, rococo, baroque, art nouveau, psychedelia, and dimensional typography. The complexity of her personality comes together here in a unique and experimental way.
A trend in contemporary design is the reexamination of the use of ornament as a counterpoint to the traditional clarity of the grid. Bantjes mines the history of calligraphy, type design, ornament, and oriental symbols and enlivens their compositions. Self-consciously autobiographical in tone, Bantjes' elaborate samplings of images, flourishes, and fonts take graphic design in a fresh new direction.

This object was donated by Marian Bantjes. It is credited Gift of Marian Bantjes.

  • Fragment (Spain)
  • silk, gilded vellum on silk core.
  • Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
  • 1902-1-978
  •

Its dimensions are

Sheet: 55.9 x 81.1 cm (22 x 31 15/16 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, Self Promotion: This Being a First in a Series of Posters, Featuring an Exaltation of Protean Ornament and Other Fancy Stuff; Designed by Marian Bantjes (Canadian, b. 1963); Canada; off-set lithograph on white wove paper; Sheet: 55.9 x 81.1 cm (22 x 31 15/16 in.); Gift of Marian Bantjes; 2007-25-4

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:

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