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Protesters around the world continue to rally for peace in response to the US-led war on Iraq. Peace lovers everywhere are making their voices heard via the snappy, potent imagery and slogans on the posters and banners they raise. The posters frequently act as a substitute for impassioned voices, as often protests are muffled by chaos or are only shown in print. Images are an incredibly powerful way of uniting in a common cause where so many different viewpoints coincide. Political graphic arts take many facets of a complex idea and synthesize them into one powerful combination of image and word, enabling posters not only to engage the intellect, but also appeal to emotions. Political graphics have long since been a part of public dissent since Gutenberg invented the printing press in the middle of the fifteenth century.
In the present day, the newest innovation in mass communication is making it easier and wider spread to share ideas and imagery. The Internet is being used in conjunction with political graphic art in an attempt to distribute anti-war posters that aid the movement against military action. A great number of web sites are now making available clever, potent, down-loadable, and copyright-free anti-war posters in hopes that the public will print out and display and distribute as many as they can.
Descendant from the early printmaking processes that employed the use of carved relief wood blocks or metal plates, the political graphics of today are designed digitally. All are designed to create images for mass production. It is for this reason that graphic arts in general and political posters in specific have always been looked upon as a “low” art form, as they lack the commercial value of an “original piece of art”.
In the areas that the fine arts render themselves politically impotent, poster art makes up for it. The fine arts (such as painting and sculpture) generally lack potency in this area of political communication of specific ideas because they are only viewed by a very small slice of the population, the gallery-goers who are versed in the language of visual arts. Poster art makes up for this impotency. Harold Rosenberg clarifies this idea in his essay entitled “Art and Political Consciousness”, stating that the value of the political poster lies “not on its visual quality but, primarily, on the quantity of posters produced and the scope of its distribution.”
Artists have always been politically conscious and in search of ways to make themselves heard. Unfortunately, most “fine” art is either debilitatingly self-referential or too ahead of its time to present a message that is decipherable to the general public. In general, fine art often participates in a dialogue with pre-existing ideas or conceptual schemas and communicates in a language that prevents itself from being useful in terms of political action. Political graphic art, on the other hand, seeks to present a clear and decipherable message. Effective anti-war posters draw upon mass communication, using imagery that is already seen and understood by the public to create combinations of images and words that encapsulate and synthesize the many facets of complex issues into one poster. Graphic artists employ basic design techniques such as the use of bold colors, simple shapes, smooth lines and typography in order to communicate in a clear and straightforward way.
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Many of most effective anti-war posters being created in regards to recent events make use of pre-existing anti-war imagery. There have been many parodies of the Uncle Sam poster that was originally created to encourage young men to enlist in the army. “I Want You…to Kill for Oil” is substituted for the original request. Posters also recall graphics from the Viet Nam era and even as far back as the Spanish Civil War. A most potent poster, in my opinion, uses a section from Guernica, a painting by Pablo Picasso in response to the Spanish Civil War. Posters that resonate with other historical imagery of wars past seem to be the most useful in conjuring up associations and presenting the issues at hand in a historical context.
Below is a list of some of the many web sites that are offering down-loadable, copyright-free anti-war posters.
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