The first US museum dedicated to the art and history of posters is set to open in New York City later this month.
The new museum Poster House was founded in 2015 to fill this gap. Other poster museums exist throughout the world; however, New York is an ideal location for a museum dedicated to this subject because of the city’s long history with the advertising and design industries.
Poster House aims to explore the public impact of the poster, and the medium’s diverse and global history. To this end, the museum’s director Julia Knight said that the museum will mount “one non-Western and women-focused show” each year. Shows planned for the next five years include one on hand-painted film posters from Ghana, one on Turkish posters from the 1970s, and a show on posters from the 2017 Women’s March, opening this fall.
the inaugural show for the museum is focused on the work of Czech illustrator Alphonse Mucha. Mucha is well known for his iconic Art Nouveau work depicting “la Nouvelle Femme”. The other other opening show highlights the work of East German graphic design group Cyan. Cyan’s poster designs were influenced by Communist ideology and did not follow the trends of commercial advertising at the time.
Poster House opens on June 20.