Poster of the Week

Agitate, Educate, Organize
Artist unknown

In the 1980s or ’90s, Carol Wells of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics was walking on the Venice Beach Boardwalk and saw a vendor selling shirts with this image. She purchased one for $10. While the creator is unknown, the piece emulates the style of Roy Lichtenstein, a prominent abstract expressionist in the Pop Art movement. In 1961, Lichtenstein began using images from cartoons and advertising in his paintings. Now, many protest posters have appropriated his cartoon style to make contemporary political statements, just as this T-shirt does.

Carol went back to Venice Beach a week later to buy more shirts, but the vendor was no longer there. She made a color copy on paper and used it in “Solidarity Forever – Graphics on the International Solidarity Movement,” one of the CSPG’s more than three dozen traveling exhibitions. It is also included in CSPG’s newest exhibition, “MasterPeaces – High Art for Higher Purpose” which premiered in 2009.

Artwork © 2010 Center for the Study of Political Graphics.