Big Nudes

Milton Glaser

1968

An offset-lithograph poster in which Milton Glaser magnifies and abstracts a reclining nude into oversized, flattened shapes to make a commercial announcement read like a bold piece of modern art.

You’re immediately struck by the monumental white silhouette—only sweeping thighs and limbs visible—cropped against soft ochre and peach fields, punctuated by a thin red frame and tiny informational type that emphasizes the scale and simplicity.

Created in 1968, Big Nudes blurred the line between graphic design and fine art, popularizing the poster as a vehicle for modernist reduction and influencing how designers use the human figure as a powerful, communicative form.

Palette

Art Terms

Lithography Poster Graphic design Design Abstraction Figure/ground relationship Figurative

Exhibitions

The Nude: Thirty 20th-Century Drawings

1970

Naked/Nude: Contemporary Prints

1986

Introduction to Modern Painting: Modern Posters

1941

American Prints, 1960–1985

1987