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Object Timeline

1932

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2017

2025

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Poster, UNIC

This is a Poster. It was designed by A. M. Cassandre and printed by Alliance Graphique. It is dated 1932 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Slim ankles cross to show off elegant shoes in Cassandre’s 1932 poster for the French luxury brand UNIC. Equally sleek from every angle, they seem to dance before our eyes. Cassandre suspends them in a creamy void, but simultaneous profile and frontal views suggest the shoes in motion. Eliminating extraneous information, he focuses the eye around the axial ankles, isolating objects of lust. He simplifies the shoe’s classic style into smooth, volumetric forms, while retaining remarkable detail—neat stitching, scalloped tongues, and perforated toe caps attest to the shoes’ craftsmanship, and highlights accentuate their supple leather.

This object was donated by Merrill Berman. It is credited Gift of Merrill C. Berman in honor of Caitlin Condell.

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Its dimensions are

H x W: 160 × 119 cm (5 ft. 3 in. × 46 7/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, UNIC; Designed by A. M. Cassandre (French, b. Ukraine, 1901–1968); Printed by Alliance Graphique; lithograph on paper; H x W: 160 × 119 cm (5 ft. 3 in. × 46 7/8 in.); Gift of Merrill C. Berman in honor of Caitlin Condell; 2016-12-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

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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/69158261/ |title=Poster, UNIC |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>