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Object Timeline

2014

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, Building Bricks, Palace of Typographic Masonry

This is a Poster. It was designed by Richard Niessen. It is dated 2014 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is screenprint on paper.

Niessen uses techniques of overlap, collision, and convergence to create a “memory palace” in this poster series. Bright colors and shapes are distributed texturally over the surface of Building Bricks to create an imagined architecture. The typographic arrangement challenges the viewer to approach the poster from different points of view. Building Bricks is from a series of posters, Palace of Typographic Masonry.

This object was donated by Richard Niessen. It is credited Gift of Richard Niessen.

  • Drawing, Textile Design: Florentina
  • brush and gouache on cream illustration board.
  • Museum purchase from Smithsonian Collections Acquisition and Decorative Arts....
  • 1988-62-96

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Its dimensions are

118 × 84 cm (46 7/16 × 33 1/16 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, Building Bricks, Palace of Typographic Masonry; Designed by Richard Niessen; screenprint on paper; 118 × 84 cm (46 7/16 × 33 1/16 in.); Gift of Richard Niessen; 2017-53-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.

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/69155011/ |title=Poster, Building Bricks, Palace of Typographic Masonry |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>