MUSEUM OF MODERN ART / ADVERTISING AND EDITORIAL ART EXPOSITION. 1949.

44 1/2x29 1/2 inches. Eldredge, New York.
Condition B+: repaired tears in margins.
McKnight Kauffer was on friendly terms with Alfred H. Barr and Monroe Wheeler of the Museum of Modern Art, in fact the two men had organized a one-man show of the artist's work in 1937. McKnight Kauffer also designed the Museum's catalogue for a show entitled Britain At War, in 1941, and another catalogue on Organic Design. So it is no surprise that he was asked to design this poster for the Art Director's Club exhibition. The exhibition ran for just over a month and so likely very few posters were printed; clearly very few have survived as this is the only copy we have ever seen. For the Art Directors, who were basically designers and ad-men themselves, McKnight Kauffer created a logo, a little character with a bow and arrow, synthesizing the desired effect of all the Art Director's work--sharp, fast, pointed and directly on target-just like this poster!
ref: Design and Paper no. 29, Marquardt & Co., New York, nd.