Artwork
Bernard Stern paintings and Sculptures 1969-1979
Bernard Stern paintings and Sculptures 1969-1979 is a poster by Richard Bird. It dates from 1979 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
The clown is depicted with a red nose and a green curtain above him, while the eye is shown with a green curtain above it.
The image features a poster with a painting of a clown and an eye, accompanied by text. The clown is depicted with a red nose and a green curtain above him, while the eye is shown with a green curtain above it. The text includes the title "Bernard Stern paintings and Sculptures 1969-1979" and the artist's name, "Bird, Richard."
The poster also displays the year "1979" and the medium "Poster." The overall design of the poster is visually striking, with bold colors and contrasting elements.
For more information on the artist's work, you can explore the paintings of Richard Bird.
Overview
The poster announces a retrospective of Bernard Stern’s work covering a decade of paintings and sculptures, shown at the National Theatre from early August to late September 1979. Produced as a colour offset lithograph, the printed piece combines graphic imagery with typographic information to inform the public of the exhibition dates and venue.
Subject & Meaning
Central to the design are two striking visual motifs: a clown rendered with a vivid red nose beneath a green theatrical curtain, and a solitary eye framed by a similar green drape. These elements echo the performative and observational themes often present in Stern’s oeuvre, suggesting a dialogue between spectacle and perception.
Technique & Style
The poster employs bold, contrasting colours and flat graphic forms typical of late‑1970s promotional art. Executed as an offset lithograph, the process allowed for precise colour registration and mass production, while the simplified silhouettes convey a modernist aesthetic aligned with contemporary exhibition advertising.
History & Provenance
Created specifically for the 1979 National Theatre show, the poster bears the exhibition’s title, dates (6 August–22 September 1979), and the name of the designer, Richard Bird. As a printed artifact, it functioned both as a public notice and as a collectible record of the event’s visual identity.
Context
The exhibition surveyed a formative period in Stern’s career, spanning ten years of artistic development. Displayed at a major cultural venue, the show positioned his work within the broader British art scene of the 1970s, a time when interdisciplinary practice and theatrical references were gaining prominence.
Artist & collection
Artist
Richard Bird made bold, layered posters in the 1970s. His 1979 “Bernard Stern Paintings and Sculptures 1969–1979” stacks images like collages, while the 1975 Untitled poster piles halftone faces and geometric cuts in…
