The image is © Paula Scher. See our image rights statement.

 

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Object Timeline

1994

  • Work on this object began.

2013

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, Him

This is a Poster. It was designed by Paula Scher and made for (as the client) The Public Theater. It is dated 1994 and we acquired it in 2013. Its medium is screenprint on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Paula Scher’s work for The Public Theater began in 1994 when she was retained by the The Public’s producer, George C. Wolfe, to design the organization’s graphic identity. In seeking to provide a visual identity that responded to the theater’s mission as an accessible community theater, Scher drew inspiration from the streets of New York City to create a series of graphics that responded to both the grid-structure of the streets and the urban language of graffiti.
The posters that Scher designed for The Public Theater have become iconic emblems—not only of the plays that they advertised, but of the cultural moments in which they were produced. Scher’s designs reference the pervasive social, economic and political issues of the time. The museum is perpetually interested in adding the work of National Design Award winners to the permanent collection.

This object was donated by Paula Scher. It is credited Gift of Paula Scher.

Our curators have highlighted 6 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Poster, Dylan
  • offset lithograph on white wove paper.
  • Gift of Richard Kusack.
  • 2007-24-1
  •
  • Poster, him
  • screenprint on off-white paper.
  • Gift of Art Chantry.
  • 1995-69-78

Its dimensions are

117 × 76.7 cm (46 1/16 × 30 3/16 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, Him; Designed by Paula Scher (American, b. 1948); Client: The Public Theater (United States); USA; screenprint on paper; 117 × 76.7 cm (46 1/16 × 30 3/16 in.); Gift of Paula Scher; 2013-25-1

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

Who else has one of these?

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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/51689455/ |title=Poster, Him |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>