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 an abstract figure painting two red flowers. The poster has a blue background that fades to black towards the top margin. There is a red flower painted in each upper corner of the poster. At the bottom center of the poster is a square of horizontal red and white stripes. An ‘arm’ branches off the top right-hand side of the square then bend in a ninety-degree angle to point straight up. The ‘arm’ is checked red and white and ends in an orange dot. The orange dot appears to hold the long black handle of a paintbrush that reaches up the right side of the poster and appears to be painting the red flower in the upper right corner. In the center of the poster is white text that reads “IN REAFFIRMING / THE / GREATNESS / OF OUR / NATION, / WE / UNDERSTAND / THAT / GREATNESS / IS NEVER A / GIVEN. / IT MUST BE EARNED. “In the top red stripe of the red and white square is white text that reads “PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA / Inaugural Address – January 20, 2009.”. 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: 2020.11.33
• 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.