John F. Kennedy observed that "the arts incarnate the creativity of a free people - when the creative impulse cannot flourish, when it cannot freely select its methods and objects, when it is deprived of spontaneity, then society severs the root of art."

He concluded that "If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF POLITICAL GRAPHICS
by Executive Director | Carol Wells

There has never been a movement for social change without the arts—music, poetry, theater, posters — being central to that movement. Political posters are powerful historical documents reminding us of worldwide struggles, past and present, for peace and justice.

All art is political, but not all art is overtly political. Protest posters flaunt their politics to generate awareness or controversy. Raw and aggressive or polished and sophisticated, political posters are the graphics of dissent against existing injustices. Slapped on walls surreptitiously, often at great risk, by collectives and anonymous individuals, or carefully fashioned by recognized artists in well-equipped studios.

After PROPAGANDA III travels the world, the posters will be given to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG), the only activist poster archive in the world.

CSPG’s growing archive currently contains more than 60,000 domestic and international posters produced in a staggering array of visual styles and printing media, dating from the Russian Revolution to the present. With 95% of the archive dating from the 1960s to the present, CSPG maintains the largest archive of post World War II political posters in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.