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Object Timeline

-0001

1982

  • Work on this object began.

2002

  • We acquired this object.

2012

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Poster, The Prepared Professional

This is a Poster. It was designed by Paul Rand. It is dated 1982 and we acquired it in 2002. Its medium is screenprint on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

The targets in Rand’s poster double as a pair of eyes. This ingeniously simple poster harbors a surprisingly complex metaphor, asking the viewer to identify alternately with the shooter and the target.

It is credited Gift of Marion S. Rand.

  • Poster, John Lennon
  • offset lithograph on white wove paper.
  • Gift of Various Donors.
  • 1981-29-511
  •

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Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 96.7 × 53.8 cm (38 1/16 × 21 3/16 in.)

It is signed

Signed [imprinted] in blue, lower right: Paul Rand

It is inscribed

Imprinted in gray, lower left: Printing: Sanders Printing Typography: Pastore DePamphilis Rampone Paper: Champion International Corp., Paper Division

Cite this object as

Poster, The Prepared Professional; Designed by Paul Rand (American, 1914–1996); USA; screenprint on paper; H x W x D: 96.7 × 53.8 cm (38 1/16 × 21 3/16 in.); Gift of Marion S. Rand; 2002-11-11

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition How Posters Work.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18695325/ |title=Poster, The Prepared Professional |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=19 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>