See more objects with the tag advertising, typography, promotional poster, shoes, footwear, poster.

Object Timeline

1932

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2017

2024

  • You found it!

Poster, UNIC

This is a Poster. It was designed by A. M. Cassandre and printed by Alliance Graphique. It is dated 1932 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Slim ankles cross to show off elegant shoes in Cassandre’s 1932 poster for the French luxury brand UNIC. Equally sleek from every angle, they seem to dance before our eyes. Cassandre suspends them in a creamy void, but simultaneous profile and frontal views suggest the shoes in motion. Eliminating extraneous information, he focuses the eye around the axial ankles, isolating objects of lust. He simplifies the shoe’s classic style into smooth, volumetric forms, while retaining remarkable detail—neat stitching, scalloped tongues, and perforated toe caps attest to the shoes’ craftsmanship, and highlights accentuate their supple leather.

This object was donated by Merrill Berman. It is credited Gift of Merrill C. Berman in honor of Caitlin Condell.

Our curators have highlighted 8 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Poster, Heel
  • lithograph on wove paper.
  • Gift of Various Donors.
  • 1981-29-315

Its dimensions are

H x W: 160 × 119 cm (5 ft. 3 in. × 46 7/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Poster, UNIC; Designed by A. M. Cassandre (French, b. Ukraine, 1901–1968); Printed by Alliance Graphique; lithograph on paper; H x W: 160 × 119 cm (5 ft. 3 in. × 46 7/8 in.); Gift of Merrill C. Berman in honor of Caitlin Condell; 2016-12-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

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/69158261/ |title=Poster, UNIC |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=15 November 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>