DepartmentUnited States & Canada
Hide Your Smile
NameHatch Show Print, Letterpress Print
CultureAmerican
Date2020
Place madeNashville, TENNESEE, United States, North America
MediumPaper, ink; letter press print
Dimensions21 5/8 × 13 1/2 in. (55 × 34.25 cm)
Credit LineMuseum of International Folk Art, Museum Purchase, MNM Collection, A.2022.31.1
Object numberA.2022.31.1
Description"Hide Your Smile for a While" letterpress print. Founded in 1879 in Nashville, Tennessee, Hatch Show Print is a foremost letterpress print shop that, from its inception, advertised everything from circuses and concerts to laundromat and grocery store announcements. The family-owned workshop became synonymous with the rise of country music. As masters of the arts of the poster and persuasion, Hatch Show Print turned their attention to the use of masks as safeguards against the spread of coronavirus. With the catchy phrase “hide your smile for a while” and the image of a man sporting a bandana over his mouth and nose, the poster evokes the American cowboy, an icon of independence and masculinity. For this letterpress poster, designer-printer Heather Moulder reused and adapted a 1939 print block created for the movie Jesse James, starring Tyrone Power, and added the timely slogan.
