Make Art Not War

Political Protest Posters from the Twentieth Century

Ralph Young

• Publisher: Washington Mews Books/NYU Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781479813674
• eBook ISBN: 9781479815234
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Popular Culture in Art

An extraordinarily visceral collection of posters that represent the progressive protest movements of the twentieth Century.





Two of the most recognizable images of twentieth-century art are Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” and the rather modest mass-produced poster by an unassuming illustrator, Lorraine Schneider “War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things.” From Picasso’s masterpiece to a humble piece of poster art, artists have used their talents to express dissent and to protest against injustice and immorality.



As the face of many political movements, posters are essential for fueling recruitment, spreading propaganda, and sustaining morale. Disseminated by governments, political parties, labor unions and other organizations, political posters transcend time and span the entire spectrum of political affiliations and philosophies.



Drawing on the celebrated collection in the Tamiment Library’s Poster and Broadside Collection at New York University, Ralph Young has compiled an extraordinarily visceral collection of posters that represent the progressive protest movements of the twentieth Century: labor, civil rights, the Vietnam War, LGBT rights, feminism and other minority rights.



Make Art Not War can be enjoyed on aesthetic grounds alone, and also offers fascinating and revealing insights into twentieth century cultural, social and political history.

Index

Page numbers in italics refer to the images.

“1967, 1968, 1969,” 122, 123

“A certain shepherd oppressed the sheep,” 132, 133

Adams, Abigail, 10

Adams, Samuel, 11

Akwesasne Notes, 198

All Quiet on the Western Front, 14

Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America), 62, 206

American Federation of Labor (AFL), 206

American Indian Movement (AIM), 17, 27, 108: Alcatraz and, 26; Trail of Broken Treaties and, 27; Wounded Knee and, 26, 27, 202, 203

American Labor Party, 19, 50, 51, 206

American Postal Workers’ Union (APWU), 19, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71

American Railway Union, 18

“And the men ask, ‘Where is your Shakespeare?’” 26, 196, 197

“Angela Davis urges declare your independence,” 60, 61

Angola, 19

“An overcharge is the same as a pay cut,” 20, 36, 37

antiabortion movement, 14, 17

antidraft dissent. See draft resistance

anti-imperialist dissent, 17, 22, 23, 24, 124, 125, 127, 130, 131, 207

antiwar dissent, 10, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21–22, 23, 25; Gulf War, 160, 161, 162, 163; Vietnam War, 116, 117, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 148, 149, 186, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Posters
• A Note on the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Poster and Broadside Collection at New York University
• Index
• About the Editor