Subway poster for School of Visual Arts designed by Gail Anderson: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a subway poster for the School of Visual Arts designed by Gail Anderson and illustrated by Terry Allen, featuring a quote from President Barack Obama and an illustration of a red, white, and blue pencil. The poster has a black background with white text. Across the top margin is white text that reads “IN REAFFIRMING THE GREATNESS OF OUR NATION, / WE / UNDERSTAND / THAT / GREATNESS / IS NEVER A / GIVEN.” The text is continued in the bottom right quadrant “IT / MUST / BE / EARNED. / PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA / Inaugural Address – January 20, 2009.” In the center of the poster is a large poster with the shaft striped, red, white, and blue. The collar of the pencil is colored to resemble wood. The pencil’s point is outlined in blue and form a triangle the gradually form the splayed legs of a human figure at the tip of the pencil. The figure has a small rectangle for a head, a triangle for a body, and two angular arms that emerge from the shoulders and rest on the figure’s hips. There is a small red flower on the figure’s chest over its heart. In the bottom right corner is a small red flower, the logo of the School of Visual Arts. White text next to the flower reads “School of VISUAL ARTS / SVA.EDU.” This is followed by copyright information.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2009
• Designed by: Gail Anderson, American, born 1962
• Illustrated by: Terry Allen, American
• Subject of: President Barack Obama, American, born 1961
• Subject of: School of Visual Arts, American, founded 1947
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 45 7/8 × 30 in. (116.5 × 76.2 cm)
• Place depicted: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Education
• Topic: Graphic design
• Object number: 2020.11.32
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gail Anderson
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © School of Visual Arts Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.