Seymour Chwast’s Dante’s Inferno “The End Place” Poster on Mad Men

Mad Men set, with Seymour Chwast Dante's Inferno poster

Seymour Chwast's poster, Dante's Inferno: The End Place

I was perusing Google Analytics, as one is wont to do on a Saturday morning, and realized that the Three Steps Ahead Etsy shop had a spike in traffic the other day thanks to a New York Times blog article about the popular television series Mad Men. A commenter had linked back to my shop because I had sold an original Seymour Chwast poster (of Pushpin Studios fame), entitled “Dante’s Inferno: The End Place.” The 1967 poster is an iconic latter-half-of-the-sixties design, depicting a smoking (and rather affectedly be-vested, be-caned, and be-monocled) version of the Great Satan Hisself. As it turns out, the poster was purchased by the producers of said TV show, and made its way onto the set in a conspicuous place. Thanks to Reddit user ExcellentPoint for the screen grab.

Seymour Chwast's poster, Dante's Inferno: The End Place, close-up

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6 Responses to “Seymour Chwast’s Dante’s Inferno “The End Place” Poster on Mad Men”

  1. Vinnette October 6, 2013 at 9:12 pm #

    Nice work! You are talented.

  2. Tom May 20, 2014 at 2:30 am #

    Do you have a higher res scan of the poster? Would make a lovely background on the 27″ Monitor, but the Internet has only small versions…

  3. Josh Korwin May 20, 2014 at 8:48 am #

    Unfortunately I only have what I have posted here, sorry about that!

  4. Kirsten Walstedt June 4, 2014 at 8:13 am #

    Wow! I would be thrilled to have sold that to them. I only just figured out what that poster was, having watched the scene several times trying to figure out what the poster said so I could look it up. I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t known who Seymour Chwast was.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. “Mad Men” Season 7, Episode 4 Recap: Don Faces His Demons | - July 17, 2014

    […] a certain poster that actually debuted in Roger’s office last season again took center stage: Seymour Chwast’s 1967 Commedia illustration of Mephistopheles holding court over a fleet of lost souls, looking like a sinister Mr. Kite. As […]

  2. An Interview with Seymour Chwast | Another Arts Blog - October 24, 2017

    […] gallery walls of the Louvre’s famed Musée des Arts Décoratifs, to the Madison Ave. offices on Mad Men. His clients have included The New York Times, Vanity Fair and many of his posters currently […]

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