A graphic of stacked white curves set against a vibrant green background, representing the Guggenheim Museum’s architecture, with white text at the bottom: “Guggenheim Museum.”

Malcolm Grear

Guggenheim Museum: Issued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Now On View

Maker

Malcolm Grear (American, 1931–2016, (RISD Professor Emeritus 1960-1998, Graphic Design)
b. in Mill Springs, Kentucky), designer

Title

Guggenheim Museum: Issued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Year

1987

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 83.7 x 55.7 cm (32 15/16 x 21 15/16 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Malcolm Grear Designers

Object Number

2021.69.8.3

Type

Exhibition History

This Is a Thing
Recent Gifts to Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 2020–2025
Aug 23, 2025 – Feb 15, 2026

Label copy

Interpretation

Here bold background colors offset and emphasize the white form depicting the Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Malcolm Grear, an influential graphic designer, designed this poster. It was released in 1987 to commemorate Wright’s 150th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum. Grear’s studio did the Guggenheim’s graphic-design work for 25 years.

Acquisition note

These works were given to the RISD Museum by Malcolm Grear Designers, the graphic-design studio founded in Providence in 1960. In addition to these and other posters it created, the studio gave the RISD Museum posters made in 1970 by RISD and Brown students on strike in protest of the Vietnam War. Protest posters, a strength of the RISD Museum’s collection, are frequently researched by students.   

[CM]

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Malcolm Grear (American, 1931–2016
b. in Mill Springs, Kentucky), designer
Malcolm Grear Designers
Guggenheim Museum: Issued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1987
Offset lithograph on paper
Image/sheet: 83.7 x 55.7 cm (32 15/16 x 21 15/16 inches)
Gift of Malcolm Grear Designers 2021.69.8.3

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