Swissair to the USA
Designer
Donald Brun
Swiss, 1909 - 1999
Date1958
Dimensions40 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (102.2 x 64.8 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.8207
DescriptionFrom the late 19th century, poster designers commonly used formulaic images of Indigenous peoples and local culture to promote certain destinations. Native peoples of the Americas were frequently included in travel posters, “exotifying” the location and imbuing it with an air of “authenticity,” no matter how ridiculous the construct. This is one of four posters Donald Brun designed in 1958 for Swissair, each of which shows a person in the traditional attire of their homeland. While all inappropriate and promoting stereotypes, this design is especially insensitive given that the Lenape people inadvertently “sold” Manhattan to the Dutch in 1626, and were subsequently forced off their ancestral land. In contrast to Brun’s other posters, this composition combines the historical with the modern—two universally recognized signs of the New World, an Indigenous person and a skyscraper, graphically interwoven with an architectural interpretation of the American flag.On View
On view
