Next time you’re in LA, check out the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, home to a huge collection of political graphics–over 50,000 posters–dating from the Russian Revolution to the present. You can also see much of the Center’s archive online here. What’s incredible is the range of styles and media, from works by design professionals like the great Tomi Ungerer, to those by passionate amateurs.
As one might expect, the posters reflect largely left or progressive points of view, but no matter what your politics, it’s impossible to deny that “…there has never been a movement for social change without the arts—music, poetry, theater, posters–being central to that movement. Political posters in particular are powerful living reminders of struggles worldwide for peace and justice. Communication, exhortation, persuasion, instruction, celebration, warning: graphic art broadcasts its messages through bold images and striking designs.”
The CSPG’s graphics reflect a huge array of social and political causes.