Political Posters
The Archive gathered posters from all streams of progressive activity — from movements of protest, liberation, and affirmative action, trade union and community struggles, to electoral and environmental organizing, community services, and visionary manifestos. It is strongest in work from the San Francisco Bay Area, but its scope is national: approximately one-quarter of its holdings come from out of state, primarily New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. These are complemented by a representation of international work. The collection consists of approximately 24,500 distinct titles.
The collection includes examples from well-known graphic artists including Malaquías Montoya, Emory Douglas, Rachael Romero, Rupert Garcia, Yolanda Lopez, Favianna Rodriguez, Carlos Cortez, Nancy Hom, Juan Fuentes, and Jos Sances, as well as material from seminal collective workshops such as La Raza Silkscreen, the Royal Chicano Air Force, Japantown Art and Media, Kearny Street Workshop, and Inkworks Press. Perhaps more important, the depth and breadth of the collection reveals the contribution of numerous lesser known or even anonymous artists whose cumulative impact on this democratic public art form has yet to be properly understood.
The cataloging of the AOUON Archive was made possible by a generous grant from the Stephen M. Silberstein Foundation.
c. 1972
Poster has a blue background with an outlined image of a woman wearing a green patterned dress, a purple patterned headscarf, and a blue hoop earring. Around her waist is a purple blanket holding... |
1967
Poster is printed in blue ink on orange paper. In the center of the poster is a blue image of a man with long hair, flower garlands, beads and peace symbol necklaces, and a fringe shirt holding a... |
1967
Poster is printed on light blue paper with dark blue ink. Center of poster has a female head and bust with long wavy hair. The woman has a peace symbol on one cheek. The upper right of the head... |
c. 1968
Poster has a black and white image of a human skeleton with tail that has six fuzzy spider arms with skeleton hands. Around the spider are bones and skulls. Printed above the image in white is "... |
1970
Poster has a black and white line drawing on the left of a young woman holding a large gun. Behing her are men with weapons. On the left is a long poem in lower case black lettering. It is... |
1984
Poster has a black background with light grey text. In the center is a drawing of a red Eveready battery with a 9. A cat with large fangs and blood dripping from its mouth is jumping through the 9... |
circa 1980
Poster has an image of a native representation in yellow red and green holding a large black gun. Along the top edge is "Pueblos invadidos por el ejercito/ Villages invaded by the... |
c. 1975
Poster has a circle in the center that is made of various animals. In the cirlce are snakes, snails, birds, fish, butterflies, mice, dragon flies, rabbits, and plants. Below the circle is "Recycle... |
1972
Poster has a large image of a black figure representing pollution. Around the body of the figure is a red hose that is spewing black liquid. Behind the figure are several building that are... |
1972
Poster has a black and white drawing of a large monster in the center. The monster is squirting black liquid from a hose wrapped around its waste and is holding a bunch of circles in its other... |
1971
Poster has a background image of burlap fabrick. In the center is a green circle with a large red "A". In the center of the A is "g" and below is "brand" The poster... |
1983
Poster has a red border with a brown and tan photograph in he center. The photograph shows several boys and girls stretched out in a funhouse mirror at Playland at the Beach. Across the top in... |
1980
Poster has a large yellow triangle with a pink triangle capstone. Over the triangle in green is, "Gay Youth of New York/ 80 5th Ave. 14th St. Sat. 1-4 P.M. Tel: 741-5800 Peer Rap For 21 Yrs.... |
1977
Poster has a red background with a black and white line drawing of a man in the lower left corner. The upper right corner has a small circle with several fists and "Unite Against War, Racism... |
1987
Poster has a light blue background with a drawing of a woman holind a baby. On the baby's chest is "La nina de maedelna" in black printed handwritting. Across much of the poster is... |
1986
Poster has a center drawing of a woman in black with a white headscarf holding a picture of a man's head in black and white. The background behind the woman fades from a dark blue to green.... |
1992
Poster has an image in the center in black and red. There is a police car with a woman standing on the hood smashing the windshield with a sledge hammer. In the background is a building and a... |
1967
Poster has a black and white photograph of Lawrence Ferlinghetti standing next to a light colored fence. He is wearing a hat and is holding his lapel with both hands. The fence has "I am the door... |
1967
Poster has a background image of a blue sky with an orange hillside that has seven orange outlined figures holding hands and playing instruments. Printed in orange lettering above the figures is... |
1967
Poster has a white and blue border around the center image. The center image has a red background with blue ribbons and white star decoration. The poster reads from the top to bottom, "... |
1985
Small poster printed on yellow cardstock with green and red ink. The center has an image of several heads of African people on a green background. Next to the heads is "to support the struggle... |
c. 1970
Poster has a large black and white portrait photograph of Angela Davis. She is wearing a patterned top. In the background is an image of a man. Below the photograph printed in black is, "... |
1984
Poster is printed on white paper and has a black background. The background of the bottom half of the poster includes a brown sting or hair like patter over the black background. The top edge of... |
1978
Poster is printed on brown paper with a red background that has three outline images of Sandino's head and body. The top edge has a black background with outlined lettering that reads, "Homenaje... |