Cooper Hewitt - Underground Modernist

Archives aid in mounting new exhibit of artist E. McKnight Kauffer

Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
 

The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum’s new exhibition, Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer is the largest retrospective of Kauffer’s work to ever be displayed. Outside of design circles, Kauffer may not have the most recognizable name, but his iconic London Underground and American Airlines posters are some of the most recognizable advertisements of the twentieth century.  Beyond poster art, Kauffer also designed book jackets for well-known publications, political pamphlets, costumes, set designs, and also collaborated with his wife, well known textile designer, Marion Dorn.

 

To bring this retrospective to life, Cooper Hewitt curators, Caitlin Condell and Emily Orr reached out to museums, collectors and archives in the US and Europe to pull together Kauffer’s works and provide context for his life and designs. Condell and Orr also edited an exhibition book, E. McKnight Kauffer the Artist in Advertising, the first to address the full range of Kauffer’s career. 

One of the most helpful resources was found within the museum’s own archives in the E. McKnight Kauffer collection, processed by Winthrop Group archivist, Suzana Chilaka.

 

Tickets to the exhibition are free, although prior booking is required.

If you’re unable to visit in person, all exhibition items can be seen here.

Source: Cooper Hewitt exhibition website

 

Photograph, E. McKnight Kauffer, ca. 1920; Photograph by Maud B. Davis; Gelatin silver print; 20.3 × 15.2 cm (8 × 6 in.); Simon Rendall Collection; Photo: Hugh Gilber, Cooper Hewitt Exhibition Website