Poster House museum acquires 55 typographic treasures from Paula Scher

Since June posters have their own museum in Manhattan. Poster House is the first museum of its kind in the United States of America and its mission is clear.

“Through exhibitions, events, and publications, Poster House presents a global view of posters from their earliest appearance in the late 1800s, to their present-day use. Poster House takes its mission from the medium, aiming to engage and educate all audiences as we investigate this large format graphic design and its public impact. For a poster to succeed, it must communicate. By combining the power of images and words, posters speak to audiences quickly and persuasively. Blending design, advertising, and art, posters clearly reflect the place and time in which they were made. Through them, Poster House explores everything from avant-garde design, to changing societal norms, and all the fads and fashions over the last 160 years.”

Poster House's 7,000-piece collection highlights 150 years of outdoor advertising and now it’s adding 55 posters from the personal archive of iconic graphic designer Paula Scher.

“These posters are a landmark addition to our permanent collection,” Poster House director Julia Knight commented in a press release. “Paula Scher is among the most renowned graphic designers in the world and we are honored to be housing such incredible examples of her innovative typography and unparalleled sense of design.”

Known for creating a vast array of brand identities Scher’s donation includes rare prints of her own work ranging from the mid-1900s through today.

Poster House opened its doors on June 20, 2019. Currently still on view are its two opening exhibitions, Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau/Nouvelle Femme, celebrating the famed Art Nouveau illustrator and graphic artist Alphonse Mucha, and Designing Through the Wall: Cyan in the 1990s, which sheds light on the groundbreaking German graphic design duo.

Paula Scher designed the museum's logo and visual branding in her role at Pentagram.

This past June, Scher was honored as the 2019 SEGD Fellow, recognized for “creating a body of work that epitomizes the highest standards of practice in environmental graphic design”. Scher joins a distinguished group of recipients that includes Lance Wyman, Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar, Deborah Sussman, Massimo Vignelli, among others.