1968 France Student Protests - OUGD401

The posters of the Paris 1968 uprising comprise some of the most brilliant graphic works ever to have been associated with a social movement. Politics aside, from a design point of view they are iconic. The artworks were not superfluous decorations meant to beautify office walls - instead they took centre stage on the streets of France in provoking awareness and action. The posters were all anonymous creations, the result of collaborations between idealistic students and striking workers. 
Atelier Populaire declared the posters “weapons in the service of the struggle an inseparable part of it. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the factories.” The organisation went on to produce hundreds of anonymous silkscreen posters.


This poster outlines the struggles of the universities during this period of unrest, depicting a university as a factory












This poster is La Beauté Est Dans La Rue (Beauty Is in the Street). The poster is a declaration that beauty will not be found in the bourgeois palaces of culture, but in the struggle to create a new society. The image depicts a street fighter in a trench coat hurling a cobblestone at riot police, but the artwork also alludes to a popular slogan and graffiti of the day - "sous les pavés, la plage" (under the paving stones, the beach).





When the French riot police attacked the occupied universities and workplaces, the rebellion turned violent. The initial police onslaughts were so heavy handed that many joined the strikers in order to protest police brutality. The poster at left was the artistic response to the savage police assaults, and the chilling untitled image appeared on city walls all over Paris.














This poster depicts the French President at the time tampering with universities, with the slogan 'Capitalists' printed under the imagery, this is to scrutinise the president himself as well as the concept of capitalism which protesters of the time felt was failing and ruining the country.













The style the posters use is simple and eye catching, having been mass produced using silk screen prints which are a representative of the producers who were the protesters, they became iconic to the events which took place in 1968. The use of singular colours keep them simple yet bold and sharp they represent more than just art work but a cry at the political injustices felt at the times. I want to produce a screen printed piece which pays homage to these works, perhaps attempting a modern day rendition, when students still scrutinise the government over fees and the running of the education system.