Poster House

Virtual Archives Tour
2020-11-10 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Join Poster House’s Collections Manager, Melissa Walker, for a look behind the scenes at the museum’s archives!
This freewheeling glimpse into the museum’s permanent collection will cover everything from our Living Archive project to vintage posters; contemporary advertising campaigns to recent acquisitions. Come learn about the museum’s collecting mission and ask Melissa about all things collections-related!
Every Archives Tour will be different, focusing on new or unexplored parts of our permanent collection.
Registration is Free!

Lippert & Lowry: Fireside Chats
2020-11-11 20:00 - 21:00
Join everyone’s favorite blazer-loving poster duo for a Fireside Chat on Instagram Live!
Angelina Lippert, our Chief Curator, and Nicholas Lowry, Director of Swann Auction Galleries, are two of the biggest personalities in the poster world. And they also happen to be best buddies! So why not spend your evening hanging out with them? There’ll even be a real fireplace!
Ask questions, chime in, make requests, play along—no poster is off limits for these two!
Tonight, they will be focusing on their favorite automobile posters!
Just follow @posterhousenyc and @swanngalleries and tune in at 8pm for the best poster entertainment on the internet!*
*This event has passed. Watch archived Fireside Chats on the “Our Friends” Highlight on our Instagram page!

Virtual Focus on Ephemera: An Evening with Display
2020-11-12 18:30 - 20:00
Spend an evening with Greg D’Onofrio and Patricia Belen, co-founders of Display, Graphic Design Collection as they present ephemera (c. 1948–69) from their personal collection, some of which is currently on loan to The Swiss Grid. From their unique point of view, they’ll reveal the history and stories behind the artifacts and their designers and discuss how the post-war visual vocabulary of Swiss Graphic Design played an influential role beyond Switzerland.
Partners Greg D’Onofrio and Patricia Belen are designers, writers, and educators. They have curated, lectured, and authored essays on twentieth-century American, Italian, and Swiss modern graphic design history. Greg teaches the history of graphic design at the School of Visual Arts and Cooper Union and is co-author (with Steven Heller) of The Moderns: Midcentury American Graphic Design (Abrams Books, 2017). Patricia is a teaching artist-in-residence in graphic design at Fordham University.
Tickets: $3
Members & Students: Free!

Virtual Talk: A Stupendous All-Star Negro Motion Picture
2020-11-16 18:30 - 20:00
Join designer and educator Kelly Walters as she virtually guides guests through Black film posters from the Jim Crow through Blaxploitation eras. In this talk, she will share her visual process in the exploration of linguistic phrases, typography, and visual representations of African Americans in this era of film poster design. She will be touching on the significance of language like that found the title of this talk in the relation to its historical context.
In preparation for the event, viewers may wish to check out Walters’s Afrotectopia presentation where she expands on these ideas.

General Registration: $3
Members & Students: Free!
Kelly Walters is a designer and educator whose work investigates the intersection of Black cultural vernacular in mainstream media. Her research practice is deeply intertwined with the molding and shaping of cultural identity, and an investment in making visible historical visual expressions that reclaim a Black voice within the field of graphic design. In her independent design studio Bright Polka Dot, she produces print and digital ephemera for publications, exhibitions, and social campaigns. She is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the BFA Communication Design program at Parsons School of Design at The New School.

College Night: The Future of Museums
2020-11-17 19:00 - 20:30
Over the past year, museums have worked to find footing within many complex and widespread challenges, including a global pandemic and the ongoing civil rights movement. As museums adapt to meet the world where it is today, we are tasked with considering how museums can continue to change and grow into the future, and who their audience and supporters are. How do you imagine the museum of the future, and how can we build it together? In our final roundtable of the season, these are the questions that will be discussed by our esteemed panelists including curator and design historian Michelle Millar Fisher, cultural organizer and curator La Tanya Autry, and educator and writer Nico Wheadon.
Michelle Millar Fisher is a curator and an architecture and design historian. The recipient of an M.A. and an M.Phil in Art History from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, she received an M.Phil from and is currently completing her doctorate in architectural history at The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY). She is currently the Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
As a cultural organizer in the visual arts, La Tanya S. Autry centers social justice and public memory in her work. In addition to co-creating The Art of Black Dissent, an interactive program that promotes public dialogue about the African-American liberation struggle, she co-produced #MuseumsAreNotNeutral, an initiative that exposes the fallacies of the neutrality claim and calls for an equity-based transformation of museums and the Social Justice and Museums Resource List, a crowd-sourced bibliography. Autry has curated exhibitions and organized programs at Yale University Art Gallery, moCa Cleveland, Artspace New Haven, Mississippi Museum of Art, Tougaloo College, and the Crane Art Center.
Nico Wheadon is an adjunct assistant professor of Art History and Africana Studies at Barnard College, and Professional Practices at Hartford Art School. Wheadon is an independent writer with her first manuscript, On Museum Citizenship: A Toolkit for Radical Art Practice, Pedagogy and Participation, slated for publication by the American Alliance of Museums Press and Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in 2021. She’s the former Director of Public Programs and Community Engagement at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2014-2019), and Curatorial Director of Rush Arts Gallery (2007-2010). Wheadon holds an MA in Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship from Goldsmith’s College, and a BA in Art-Semiotics from Brown University.
College Night aims to provide real resources to students who are interested in pursuing careers in art, design, and museums, with an emphasis on breaking down the pathways and barriers that can intimidate young professionals when planning for their futures. Our student programming provides professional development opportunities such as a lecture series of museum professionals across departments and throughout the world of design, as well as creative workshops, resumé reviews, and direct mentorship with our museum staffers.
College Night moved online in March of 2020, and is free of charge. To learn about the perks of becoming a Student Member at Poster House, please visit our Join page.

Virtual Talk: Italian Propaganda and The Art of Political Indoctrination
2020-11-18 18:30 - 20:00
Intended to be on view from March 4 through April 17, 2020, at the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Propaganda:The Art of Political Indoctrination in Italy, 1902-1950 was only open for a few days before the citywide shut down led to its premature closure.
Poster House is therefore thrilled that it can offer a special evening over Zoom with curator Nicola Lucchi, who will not only guide us through the amazing posters in the exhibition (all on loan from the incredible Fondazione Cirulli in Bologna, Italy), but also talk about the exhibition-building process and research behind this fabulous show.
Tickets: $3
Members & Students: Free!

The Art of Political Indoctrination sought to expose the visual language of insidious political communication. Focusing on Italian case studies from the turbulent first half of the country’s 20th century, the exhibition exposed how modernist aesthetics, mass communication, and marketing techniques mustered support for political causes that frequently encompassed totalitarian endeavors. Considered together, these posters and design ephemera alert us to the need of recognizing political rhetoric in all its forms, and in all eras, including the present one.
Nicola Lucchi is a teacher of History and Philosophy at La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi in New York. He holds a doctorate in Italian Studies from NYU (2016) and has previously taught at Dickinson College and Queens College, CUNY. An expert on Italian modernism with a focus on interwar visual culture, Nicola has published scholarly articles and catalog essays on Futurism, Bruno Munari, and Eugenio Montale. During Spring 2020, Nicola curated an exhibition on propaganda art at NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, titled Propaganda. The Art of Political Indoctrination, made possible by a collaboration with Fondazione Massimo e Sonia Cirulli (Bologna, Italy).

Remote Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: The Swiss Grid
2020-11-19 16:00 - 17:30
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for the low vision and blind community. Explore one of the museum’s shows with an experienced educator trained in the art of verbal description and learn more about the history of printed posters.
Due to the current public health crisis surrounding COVID-19, we’re bringing our description tours online through teleconference. These tours are led by our Chief Curator, allowing you intimate access to the items in our current shows.
This tour will focus on The Swiss Grid, an exhibition currently on display at the museum which features the parred-down, geometry-based designs of the 1950s.
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call 917.722.2439 x413 by November 17 to sign up for this event. You will be emailed poster images for reference as well as information about accessing the teleconference the morning of the virtual tour.
Tours start promptly and will last approximately 90 minutes with questions.
For a complete list of our Access Tours, click the Access filter at the top of our Events page, call 917.722.2439 x413 or email access@posterhouse.org. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.

Stories & Recipes From Nom Wah
2020-11-19 18:00 - 19:00
Over the past few months, Poster House has teamed up with Nom Wah, one of New York’s oldest dim sum houses, in honor of the exhibition The Sleeping Giant: Posters & The Chinese Economy.
For our final event in the series, join Nom Wah’s owner, Wilson Tang, and Joshua David Stein, co-author of the newly released cookbook The Nom Wah Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from 100 Years at New York City’s Iconic Dim Sum Restaurant for an incredible evening of cooking and storytelling. Hear the stories behind many of these easy-to-prepare, family-focused dishes, learn about Chinese-American food culture, and watch as Wilson demonstrates one of the many fabulous recipes in this landmark cookbook.
Both Joshua and Wilson will be taking questions from the audience. Feel free to cook along with your copy (available through the Poster House Shop) or, if you’re in NYC, order the meal directly from Nom Wah so you can experience these authentic flavors directly from the chefs themselves. You can also purchase the cookbook from our shop.

Free Early Bird Tickets Available Til Nov 8!

Members-Only Viewing
2020-11-19 19:00 - 20:30
Forget about boring museum tours! Our Chief Curator is known for her relatable, funny anecdotes and casual style. Join her on an introduction to our first mini-exhibition dedicated to Amos Kennedy, as well as a tour of our permanent Poster History Timeline where she’ll dispel poster myths, share hot poster gossip, and give you a new appreciation for the wild world of posters.
Questions and fabulous attire are encouraged!
We will be taking temperatures of all guests upon arrival, and requiring masks and social distancing throughout the event. In order to ensure proper social distancing, we will also be providing headsets with disposable earbuds.
This viewing is free and members-only.

Angelina Lippert is the Chief Curator of Poster House in New York City, the first museum in the United States dedicated to the history of the poster. She holds an MA in the art of the Russian Avant-Garde from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and a BA in theology and art history from Smith College. She is the author of The Art Deco Poster, and has lectured at SVA, The Cooper Union, Columbia University, and The Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She is also a contributing writer to The Muse by the Clio Awards, where she focuses on the history of advertising design. She is on the Board of Directors of the Ephemera Society of America, and is an editor for Vintage Poster magazine.

A Conversation With Amos Kennedy
2020-12-01 18:30 - 20:00
Join Poster House‘s Chief Curator in conversation with letterpress printer Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.
As the subject of the museum’s first mini-exhibition in its new entrance display space, Amos’s work has become a favorite of visitors of the past few months. His posters exemplify a modern approach to letterpress printing, combining sharp wit with layers of brilliant color. No two posters are ever exactly alike, underscoring their utilitarian purpose of communicating to the viewer information about an event or idea.
Tonight, Amos will speak about the letterpress process, his approach to design, and how he became involved in the wonderful world of posters.
Questions from the audience are strongly encouraged.

Lippert & Lowry: Fireside Chats
2020-12-02 20:00 - 21:00
Join everyone’s favorite blazer-loving poster duo for a Fireside Chat on Instagram Live!
Angelina Lippert, our Chief Curator, and Nicholas Lowry, Director of Swann Auction Galleries, are two of the biggest personalities in the poster world. And they also happen to be best buddies! So why not spend your evening hanging out with them? There’ll even be a real fireplace!
Ask questions, chime in, make requests, play along—no poster is off limits for these two!
Tonight, they will be looking at their favorite film posters!
Just follow @posterhousenyc and @swanngalleries and tune in at 8pm for the best poster entertainment on the internet!*
*This event has passed. Watch archived Fireside Chats on the “Our Friends” Highlight on our Instagram page!

Collecting Swiss Posters: An Evening With Tom Strong
2020-12-03 18:30 - 20:00
No one knows a poster niche as well as its most passionate collectors. When creating The Swiss Grid, Poster House worked closely with Swiss poster collector Tom Strong, crafting a narrative based on his extraordinary posters.
Tonight, join Tom Strong in conversation with Chief Curator Angelina Lippert as he gives you unfettered access to his collecting journey, from when he first fell in love with Swiss design to how he chooses new Swiss posters being made today.
Tickets:
General Registration: $3
Members & Students: Free!
This program is in partnership with Consulate General of Switzerland in New York.

Summer 2021 Internship Info Session
2020-12-03 18:30 - 20:00
Calling NYC-based undergraduate and graduate students!
Join Poster House for an information session about our upcoming Summer 2021 Internship opportunities. Our internship mentors will be on hand to share insights into the positions available this summer and answer any outstanding questions.
Will you be our next Teen Program Intern? Can you see yourself spinning corporate membership gold as our Corporate Membership Intern? Plan on making our collections more accessible as our Collections Intern? Or will you be pitching your very own design project for our Pitch Your Own Design Internship? For more information, please visit our Summer 2021 Internship page.
Registration is free, questions are encouraged, and all are welcome! There will be a raffle of goodies from the Shop for participants.

Instagram Takeover: Molly Crabapple
2020-12-07 09:00 - 17:00
Poster House is dedicated to celebrating all voices within the poster community. In an effort to share with our audience the widest array of poster talent, we are partnering with numerous young designers around the world to create Instagram Takeovers—full days on our Instagram account in which up and coming graphic artists give us a personalized peek inside their poster-making world.
Once a month, head to our Instagram to see these amazing contemporary designers. Get special access inside their studios, hear their philosophy on how posters work, peek at their latest poster creations, and ask them questions!
This Monday, we are featuring the incomparable Molly Crabapple! Molly is an artist and writer in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun, (with Marwan Hisham), which was long-listed for a National Book Award in 2018. Her reportage has been published in the New York Times, New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and elsewhere. Her art is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art. She is currently a 2020 New America Fellow and a 2020 Bard Fellow at the Brooklyn Public Library.
Instagram handle: @mollycrabapple

Winter Break: Ski Posters & Après Ski Cocktails
2020-12-09 19:00 - 21:00
Our Posters & Cocktails parties keep getting rave reviews, so we’re rounding out the year with one more night of great design and mixology!
Our Chief Curator will once again be hosting Nicholas Lowry of Swann Auction Galleries and Don Spiro of The Green Fairy Society over Zoom as they take us on a much-needed winter holiday full of ski posters and après ski drinks.
After Don warms us up with our first cocktail, Nicholas will jetset around the world, introducing us to all the major winter ski resort posters in history. As our glasses empty, Don will help us create the perfect ski chalet atmosphere with four more amazing beverages to warm our spirits against the winter chill.
Tickets:
Early Bird (purchased before Nov 1): Free!
General Registration: $3
Ingredients:
STINGER
Brandy
Crème de menthe
Ice
Rocks glass
Barspoon
OLD PAL
Rye
Campari
Dry vermouth
Ice
Rocks glass
Barspoon
EGG NOG
1 egg
Brown sugar or demerara syrup
Heavy cream
Whole milk
Jamaican Rum (or other, aged, rich rum)
Bourbon
Optional Apple brandy
Ice
Shaker and strainer
Optional ground nutmeg
Wine glass
HOT BUTTERED RUM
5oz unsalted butter
2 ounces dark or aged rum
Honey or brown sugar
Boiling water
A heat proof glass mug
Barspoon
Optional: ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, salt, pepper, star anise, vanilla syrup, or other spice of your choice.
HOT TODDY
A brown spirit of your choice: rum, bourbon, Scotch, etc…
Fresh lemon juice
Honey, simple syrup, or sugar
Cinnamon stick
Orange
Boiling water
A heat proof glass mug
Optional: Ginger, bitters, or other spice of your choice.

Virtual Archives Tour
2020-12-10 18:30 - 19:30
Join Poster House’s Collections Manager, Melissa Walker, for a look behind the scenes at the museum’s archives!
This freewheeling glimpse into the museum’s permanent collection will cover everything from our Living Archive project to vintage posters; contemporary advertising campaigns to recent acquisitions. Come learn about the museum’s collecting mission and ask Melissa about all things collections-related!
Tickets: $3
Members & Students: Free!
Every Archives Tour will be different, focusing on new or unexplored parts of our permanent collection.

Virtual Talk with Bowne & Co: Letterpress in New York City
2020-12-14 18:30 - 20:00
Poster House is thrilled to partner with Robert Wilson, Art Director at Bowne & Co., of the South Street Seaport Museum, for an evening dedicated to the early history of letterpress printing in New York City. In this presentation, he will explore a number of production processes that built the visual landscape of New York, with special attention paid to the typographic trends of broadsides and handbills from the 19th century. At Bowne & Co., artifacts from the museum’s working collection are used in a contemporary practice, preserving the skills and traditions of 19th-century letterpress printing. Join us on a journey of lessons learned at the press, questions warmly welcomed!
Rob Wilson is a designer, educator, and letterpress printer. As Art Director of Bowne & Co., he is responsible for the general operations of custom printing, education, public programming, as well as the overall maintenance and management of the printing history collection of 34 printing presses and over 2,000 cases of moveable type. He teaches graphic design and typography at Pace University and Pratt Institute.
This online event will be hosted on Zoom with attendees cameras off. Closed Captioning will be provided. Questions about access? Please email Salvador Muñoz, Public Programs Manager, at Salvador@posterhouse.org

Lippert & Lowry: Fireside Chats
2020-12-16 20:00 - 21:00
Join everyone’s favorite blazer-loving poster duo for a Fireside Chat on Instagram Live!
Angelina Lippert, our Chief Curator, and Nicholas Lowry, Director of Swann Auction Galleries, are two of the biggest personalities in the poster world. And they also happen to be best buddies! So why not spend your evening hanging out with them? There’ll even be a real fireplace!
Ask questions, chime in, make requests, play along—no poster is off limits for these two!
Tonight they will be going over their favorite cabaret and showgirl posters!
Just follow @posterhousenyc and @swanngalleries and tune in at 8pm for the best poster entertainment on the internet!*
*This event has passed. Watch archived Fireside Chats on the “Our Friends” Highlight on our Instagram page!

Remote Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: The Sleeping Giant
2020-12-17 16:00 - 17:30
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for the low vision and blind community. Explore one of the museum’s shows with an experienced educator trained in the art of verbal description and learn more about the history of printed posters.
Due to the current public health crisis surrounding COVID-19, we’re bringing our description tours online through teleconference. These tours are led by our Chief Curator, allowing you intimate access to the items in our current shows.
This tour will focus on The Sleeping Giant: Posters & The Chinese Economy, an exhibition currently on display at the museum which covers approximately 100 years of Chinese graphic design.
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call 917.722.2439 x413 by December 15 to sign up for this event. You will be emailed poster images for reference as well as information about accessing the teleconference the morning of the virtual tour.
Tours start promptly and will last approximately 90 minutes with questions.
For a complete list of our Access Tours, click the Access filter at the top of our Events page, call 917.722.2439 x413 or email access@posterhouse.org. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.

Alphonse Mucha: The Illustrator Who Changed the Advertising World
2021-01-04 20:00 - 21:30
Join New York Adventure Club as we explore the Paris portion of Alphonse Mucha’s career, and the exhibition Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau / Nouvelle Femme formerly debuted at Poster House — through exhibitions, events, and publications, this museum presents a global view of posters from their earliest appearance in the late 1800s, to their present-day use.
Led by Poster House Chief Curator, Angelina Lippert, this digital showcase of Alphonse Mucha and his ground-breaking posters will include:

An overview of Poster House, the first museum in the United States dedicated exclusively to posters, which opened its doors in the Summer of 2019
The story behind Alphonse Mucha’s rise to fame and advertising career, which all started when he met the legendary Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress of the time
A discussion around Mucha’s artistic style, which used alluring, strong women to advertise everything from cookies to bicycles, and alcohol to rolling papers — all inspired by his professional relationship with Bernhardt
The profound impact of Mucha on the future of posters, and how his designs helped elevate women to be a part of a buddying 20th-century world with newfound independence and social agency

Afterward, We’ll have a Q&A with Angelina — any and all questions about the Mucha or general poster history are welcomed and encouraged!
Can’t make it live? Don’t worry, you’ll have access to the full replay for one week!
See you there, virtually!
Tickets: $10
*Immediately upon registering, you will receive a separate, automated email containing the link to join this webinar
**For the best possible viewing experience, please ensure you’re using the latest version of your internet browser — Google Chrome is the most compatible. Exact technical requirements and a webinar user guide will be shared in the automated confirmation email upon registration.
***A full replay of the experience will be available to all registered guests for up to a week

Poster House Book Club: Kraft by Jonas Lüscher
2021-01-07 18:30 - 20:00
The Poster House Book Club meets a few times an exhibition cycle to discuss vibrant, interesting, and dynamic works of fiction that relate to the posters on view.
In honor of The Swiss Grid, we will be discussing Jonas Lüscher‘s novel Kraft, which won the Swiss Book Award in 2017 and will be making its debut in English this fall.
This “hilarious and wicked novel about a man facing the ruins of his life, and his world” promises to be one of the most talked-about books of the year, with some critics calling it “the book of the hour, the book for our time.”
The moderator for this meeting of the Poster House Book Club will be Tess Lewis, who translated this edition of Kraft into English. She is a writer and translator from French and German. Her translations include works by Walter Benjamin, Monique Schwitter, Christine Angot, Philippe Jaccottet, and Jean-Luc Benoziglio. Her recent awards include the 2017 PEN Translation Prize for Maja Haderlap’s Angel of Oblivion and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is an Advisory Editor for The Hudson Review and a co-curator of the German-language literary festival, Festival Neue Literatur.
While we cannot predict if we will be able to also meet in person for this event, we will continue to offer it for free over Zoom. Stay tuned for any announcements about an in-person option.
This program is in partnership with Consulate General of Switzerland in New York.

Instagram Takeover: Michael DeForge
2021-01-11 09:00 - 17:00
Poster House is dedicated to celebrating all voices within the poster community. In an effort to share with our audience the widest array of poster talent, we are partnering with numerous young designers around the world to create Instagram Takeovers—full days on our Instagram account in which up and coming graphic artists give us a personalized peek inside their poster-making world.
Once a month, head to our Instagram to see these amazing contemporary designers. Get special access inside their studios, hear their philosophy on how posters work, peek at their latest poster creations, and ask them questions!
This Monday, we are featuring Michael DeForge. Michael works as a cartoonist in Toronto. He is the author of multiple graphic novels, including Familiar Face, Brat, Dressing, Leaving Richard’s Valley, and A Western World.
Instagram Handle: @michael.deforge

The Gay Agenda: Homoeroticism in Communist Propaganda
2021-01-12 19:00 - 20:30
So many Communist propaganda posters feature men holding hands, kissing, or clutching each other in a passionate embrace—all to symbolize the great bond between men of different cultural backgrounds unified under Communism. But what if the artists behind these posters were just creating the least-subtle depictions of a gay utopia?
Scholars have long pointed out the overt homoeroticism present in these images, and tonight Poster House is bringing together two experts in the field to tease out the histories and interpretations of these iconic posters. Join Chinese-born designer Zipeng Zhu and film historian Bader AlAwadhi as they guide us through the provocative, campy, and incredibly homoerotic imagery of Communist propaganda.

Cocktails and loungewear recommended. All are welcome.

Note: This event is geared at mature audiences and will include sexual content.

Zipeng Zhu is a Chinese-born designer, art director, illustrator, and animator in New York City who wants to make everyday a razzle-dazzle musical. Now he runs his creative practice Dazzle Studio and gift shop Dazzle Supply to push dazzle to the next level.

Bader AlAwadhi is a Kuwaiti-born New York-based artist and marketing professional. His latest film Mitzvot had its international premiere at Kuwait Film Festival in 2019 and won the feature documentary prize at DOC LA. He has an MFA in Film/Video from California Institute of the Arts.

Standing Ovation: Posters & Cocktails
2021-01-13 19:00 - 21:00
Whether you’re a stage door floozy or a demanding diva, everyone loves a good cocktail. Tonight, join our three favorite poster-loving imbibers as they bring you another night of great design and tasty beverages.
Our Chief Curator will once again be hosting Nicholas Lowry of Swann Auction Galleries and Don Spiro of The Green Fairy Society over Zoom as they take us on a journey through some of the world’s greatest performances in posters.
After Don warms us up with our first cocktail, Nicholas will introduce us to leading men, chorus girls, and epic performances advertised by posters. As our glasses empty, Don will help us create the perfect second act to our first drink, and so on until we get dragged off stage by a giant hooked cane.
Tickets:
Early Bird: Free til Dec 31
General Admission: $3
Members: Free!
While everyone is welcome to tune in and watch, if you’d like to make cocktails along with us, a full ingredient list can be found below:
BIJOU
Gin
Green Chartreuse
Sweet (Red) Vermouth
Orange Bitters
Cherry or Olive with a Lemon Twist
CABARET COCKTAIL
Dry gin
Bitters
French (White) Vermouth
Benedictine
GRANDE GUIGNOL
Dark Rum
Yellow Chartreuse
Cherry Heering
Fresh Lime Juice
PARISIAN COCKTAIL
Dry Gin
French (White) Vermouth
Crème de Cassis
ROSE COCKTAIL
French (White) Vermouth
Kirsch (Cherry Brandy)
Raspberry Syrup
Maraschino Cherry (Garnish)

Remote Vibrant Verbal Description Tour: Mistinguett, Parisian Cabaret Star
2021-01-14 16:00 - 17:30
Every month, Poster House offers Vibrant Verbal Description Tours specifically for the low vision and blind community. Explore one of the museum’s shows with an experienced educator trained in the art of verbal description and learn more about the history of printed posters.
These virtual tours are led by our Chief Curator, allowing you intimate access with a poster historian.
This tour will focus on Mistinguett, one of the most fascinating cabaret stars of the 20th century who had over 100 posters of her created during her length career.
Please email access@posterhouse.org or call 917.722.2439 x413 by January 12 to sign up for this event. You will be emailed poster images for reference as well as information about accessing the teleconference the morning of the virtual tour.
Tours start promptly and will last approximately 90 minutes with questions.
For a complete list of our Access Tours, click the Access filter at the top of our Events page, call 917.722.2439 x413 or email access@posterhouse.org. Poster House will also strive to accommodate any outside accessibility tour requests given two week’s notice.

Virtual Archives Tour
2021-01-14 18:30 - 19:30
Join Poster House’s Collections Manager, Melissa Walker, for a look behind the scenes at the museum’s archives!
This freewheeling glimpse into the museum’s permanent collection will cover everything from our Living Archive project to vintage posters; contemporary advertising campaigns to recent acquisitions. Come learn about the museum’s collecting mission and ask Melissa about all things collections-related!

Every Archives Tour will be different, focusing on new or unexplored parts of our permanent collection.

Tickets: $3
Members & Students: Free!

Democracy on Paper: Political Posters of the 1960s & '70s
2021-01-19 17:30 - 19:00
While TV and radio marketing campaigns surrounding American presidential election campaigns have been the subject of countless studies and critiques, the medium of posters — though just as impactful — has been largely overlooked. This is the story of the election, protest, get-out-the-vote, and satirical posters of the 1960s and ’70s that defined their generation — and shaped future ones.
Join New York Adventure Club as we explore political posters made in the 1960s and 1970s, and uncover their lasting legacy as illustration and historical documents — ones that tell a story about the future of American democracy.
Led by Poster House museum’s Collections Manager, Melissa Walker, our digital showcase of these incredible posters will include:

An examination of election posters for presidential candidates including Nixon, JFK, and Regan
A look at the connection between presidential administrations of the past and protest posters, which illustrate civic engagement from those eras
Tracing the evolution of past poster design to contemporary election and protest posters
A special feature of posters from Hunter S. Thompson’s run for sheriff of Aspen that can be seen in person at the upcoming Freak Power exhibition at Poster House — this show chronicles a little-known period in his life when he wrote prolifically about politics, the environment, drugs, and American values

Afterward, We’ll have a Q&A with Melissa — any and all questions about political posters are welcomed and encouraged!
Can’t make it live? Don’t worry, you’ll have access to the full replay for one week!
See you there, virtually!
*Immediately upon registering, you will receive a separate, automated email containing the link to join this webinar
**For the best possible viewing experience, please ensure you’re using the latest version of your internet browser — Google Chrome is the most compatible. Exact technical requirements and a webinar user guide will be shared in the automated confirmation email upon registration.
***A full replay of the experience will be available to all registered guests for up to a week

Modernism is Not a Style: Vignelli, The Grid, & Beyond
2021-01-21 18:30 - 20:00
Poster House is delighted to partner with Waterhouse Cifuentes Design on this virtual lecture on their use of grid systems to organize information, and the partners’ experience as former associates of Massimo Vignelli for over fifteen years.
The talk will seek to dispel notions of the Swiss grid as a stylistic trend locked in place and time, and demonstrate why its use has endured to become a universal means of communication. It will also show how the grid’s flexibility has allowed it to be expressed over the years, with relevant case studies that include those of its origins and beyond.
Waterhouse Cifuentes Design is a multidisciplinary design firm based in New York with clients worldwide. Partners Beatriz Cifuentes and Yoshiki Waterhouse build on over fifteen years as former associates of Massimo Vignelli. In 2008, Vignelli, Cifuentes and Waterhouse built a new “Subway Diagram,” later adopted for digital use by the MTA. Their office has since adapted the design further, including printed and digital train diversion notices, and the official MTA map for the opening of the Second Avenue Subway line. Their work is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, including a permanent mural along the 5Av/53rd St Subway platform.
This online event will be hosted on Zoom with attendees cameras off. Closed Captioning will be provided. Questions about access? Please email Salvador Muñoz, Public Programs Manager, at Salvador@posterhouse.org

Internship Q&A with Yeji Kim
2021-01-25 12:00 - 16:00
Poster House is thrilled to continue to host remote internships into 2021!
This winter, Yeji Kim was selected to be our Student Outreach Intern. Over the course of 27 weeks, she is working closely with our Communications and Education Departments to develop and support the Spring 2021 College Night series.
Starting at noon this Monday, she’ll be going live on our Instagram stories, answering all your burning questions about Poster House’s paid remote internship program. Afraid you’ll miss your chance? Email your questions early to internship@posterhouse.org.

Representations of Blackness in Chinese Popular Culture
2021-01-28 19:00 - 20:30
In this intimate conversation, scholars on contemporary Chinese culture will share a series of case studies to illuminate how depictions of Black identity in Chinese popular culture have evolved throughout the last century.
Spanning depictions of the American Civil Rights movement in posters from the 1960s to more recent Chinese popular culture, panelists will explore how globalization and both domestic and international political movements have impacted the way that representations of Blackness have been constructed and perceived in China.

Through this conversation, we hope to unpack how ideas of race and identity are transmuted across cultures with an eye towards new considerations and approaches for the future.
This event is presented in partnership with Gung Ho Projects. Featured panelists include:
Michael Leibenluft, an Obie Award winning theater and film director, is the Artistic Director of Gung Ho Projects, a platform for cultural exchange and performance in the United States and Asia. Recent bilingual projects include the folk musical Flood in the Valley and Salesman之死 by Jeremy Tiang, set to premiere at Target Margin Theater in Brooklyn. For more, visit: gunghoprojects.com and leibenluft.com.
Wenxuan Xue 文轩 is a graduate student in Theatre & Performance Studies at Tufts University. He is a theatre maker, scholar, and writer. He was a volunteer teaching artist at an NGO advocating for educational equity in rural China. He’s interested in topics around Chineseness, queerness, migration, empire, and collective futurity through performances.
Dr. Keisha A. Brown is an Assistant Professor of History at Tennessee State University in the Department of History, Political Science, Geography, and Africana Studies. Dr. Brown is an Asian studies scholar with a regional focus on East Asia specializing in modern Chinese history. Her research and teaching interests include comparative East Asian histories, postcolonial theory, transnational studies, world history, and race and ethnic studies. She is currently extending her research on Sino-African American transnational relations to examine ideas of race and ethnicity and Afro-Asian diasporic connections.
Dr. Claire Conceison (康开丽) is Quanta Professor of Chinese Culture and Professor of Theater Arts at MIT. Her teaching and research include contemporary Chinese theater, Asian American theater, cross-cultural performance, play translation, and sport as performance. Her books include Significant Other: Staging the American in China, exploring representations of Americans on the Chinese stage. Other publications include the introduction to the recent Chinese publication of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun (translated by Wu Shiliang in 1963).
Faye Lu is a PhD student in Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA. Her research focuses on Chinese and Sinophone literature and popular culture at the intersections of the Cold War and global decolonization. She has also translated scholarly and literary work on Taiwan’s indigenous communities.
This virtual event will be hosted on Zoom with attendees cameras off. Closed Captioning will be provided. Questions about access? Please email Salvador Muñoz, Public Programs Manager, at Salvador@posterhouse.org
