Alexey Brodovitch 1898-1971 New Poster/The Franklin Institute. 1937 21 x 16.375 inches. Condition B+: light horizontal and vertical folds,. creasing throughout. In 1937 the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania organized an international

Alexey Brodovitch 1898-1971 New Poster/The Franklin Institute. 1937 21 x 16.375 inches. Condition B+: light horizontal and vertical folds,. creasing throughout. In 1937 the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania organized an international exposition of design in outdoor advertising. The stated goal of the exhibition was to "showcurrent phases of foreign poster advertising, and to emphasize the artistic value of these tendencies to American poster design." The actual result, the exhibition of "The New Poster," was an avant-garde,ground breaking event in America, displaying works by A.M. Cassandre, Jean Carlu, Paul Colin, Charles Loupot, Mcknight Kauffer, Herbert Matter and other famous European designers, as well as the work of American artists such as Lester Beall, Leslie Gill, Eric Nitsche to name a few. It was, according to the catalogue which accompanied the exhibition, "the only comprehensive, consistently presented resume of contemporary poster activity and achievement thus far attempted. In a sense it constitutes an international poster Olympiad ... all phases, all facets of active poster design are in evidence." For the poster, in an almost ironic twist, Brodovitch used an old-fashioned, wood- block printing hand and old typographic fonts as opposed to his favored sans-serif geometric lettering which is reminiscent of old broadsides and press advertising. Brodovitch not only designed the poster for the show but also the catalogue and the actual lay-out of the exhibition. ill. & ref. New Poster International Exposition, Catalogue for the exhibition at the Franklin Institute, Beck EngravingCompany, 1937