Poster, Ommisi(o)n

This is a Poster. It was made for (as the client) Herman Miller Furniture Company. It is dated ca. 1964–80 and we acquired it in 1981. Its medium is lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

Its dimensions are

89 × 58.5 cm (35 1/16 × 23 1/16 in.)

It is signed

Signed in graphite, lower left: 44/100 John Massey

It is inscribed

Printed in black, vertically, center right: which is why some things are better / left unsaid. Sins of omission may / be grave indeed---as in buildings / that omit amenities for the people / who live and work in them---but / omission is often a virtue in design. / “Less is more,” Mies said, and he / was right---more or less. Yet, when / you consider that both Samuel Goldwyn / and John Keats were concerned with; in white, vertically, within black square at center left: from / Notes on Omission / by Ralph Caplan. / Herman Miller / Zeeland, Michigan; in black, horizontally, center left: Herman Miller leaves some things to be desired; in black, lower right: herman miller produces office / and health care systems, furniture, / service and information

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