In 1943, philosopher Mortimer Adler began to lead a group of Chicago businessmen in the study of texts (“Great Books”) that he felt embodied the core ideas of the Western canon. Encyclopedia Britannica later published Adler’s monumental Great Books of the Western World series in 1952 after years of development—431 works by 71 authors. Inspired by the group conversations and ideas represented in the Great Books, and with a desire to engage the general public in cultural discourse, Walter Paepcke, founder of Container Corporation of America, initiated an unprecedented advertising campaign entitled the Great Ideas of Western Man. Great Ideas provided a platform for creatives such as Paul Rand, Max Bill, Herbert Bayer, Saul Bass, and René Magritte to bring attention to celebrated thinkers such as Mark Twain, Alfred North Whitehead, and Theodore Roosevelt.

With reverence and enthusiasm, the Design Museum of Chicago has renewed this historic series by connecting contemporary artists with important thinkers to create a new series of advertisements. Great Ideas of Humanity: Out of the Container highlights a broad spectrum of human thought and reminds us that, sometimes, looking to the past helps to comprehend the present.

As a special component to the exhibition in conjunction with Art Design Chicago, 10 of the posters reflect the quotes of distinguished Chicagoans such as Ida B. Wells, Buckminster Fuller, and László Moholy-Nagy, and are designed by Chicago artists and designers, including Jason Pickleman, Jilly Simons, and Carol Ross Barney.