See more objects with the tag advertising, silk, geometric abstraction.

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1919

  • Work on this object began.

1963

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2019

2021

2024

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Poster, Vigil, The Pure Silk

This is a Poster. It was designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer and E. McKnight Kauffer and printed by Dangerfield Printing Company Ltd. and made for (as the client) Vigil Silk. It is dated 1919 and we acquired it in 1963. Its medium is lithograph. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

The textile company Vigil Silks was owned by Alec G. Walker, an art collector who was an enthusiastic champion of vorticism. Kauffer’s design of diagonally juxtaposed planes of stripes and grids was based on patterned textile swatches from the company. But the imagery echoes the vorticist abstractions of Edward Wadsworth. The poster raised controversy—how could an abstract image sell silk? Evidently it did just that and Walker continued to hire Kauffer to design for Vigil

This object was donated by Mrs. Edward McKnight Kauffer. It is credited Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer.

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

Its dimensions are

91.4 × 60.6 cm (36 in. × 23 7/8 in.)

It is signed

Printed in script, in black ink outline, center right: E. Mc.K Kauffer 1919.

It is inscribed

Printed in black ink, lower left: THE DANGERFIELD PRINTING CO. LTD. LONDON.

Cite this object as

Poster, Vigil, The Pure Silk; Designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer (American, active England, 1890–1954); Printed by Dangerfield Printing Company Ltd.; Client: Vigil Silk; USA; lithograph; 91.4 × 60.6 cm (36 in. × 23 7/8 in.); Gift of Mrs. E. McKnight Kauffer; 1963-39-18

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18447389/ |title=Poster, Vigil, The Pure Silk |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>