Tusiani, GiuseppeMareMagnum
Solidarity with the African American People.
1968145489Cuba: OSPAAAL 1968. Striking original poster by Cuban designer Lazaro Abreu appropriated from an image by Emory Douglas the Black Panther Minister of Culture and the party's in-house artist demonstrating the solidarity between the Black Panthers and the Fidel Castro-founded Organisation in Solidarity with the People of Africa Asia and Latin America OSPAAAL the aim of which was to combat US imperialism and promote Pan-Africanism. OSPAAAL was born out of the Tricontinental Conference hosted in Havana in 1966. Formed with the intention of facilitating the union of liberation movements across the three continents OSPAAAL's primary work was accomplished through its publishing arm. Although multiple Tricontinental conferences were planned they were never realised and the quarterly Tricontinental magazine that was born of the 1966 conference became an important method for those involved to maintain contact and share information. Vivid posters now considered examples of the "golden age" of Cuban poster design were often included in issues of the magazine with messages printed in English French Spanish and Arabic: "The posters were designed to galvanise and unite liberation struggles around the world - from civil rights and anti-apartheid movements to protests against the Vietnam war and Portuguese rule in Angola." FT. OSPAAAL's strong affinity with the Black Panther Party in the US led to several unofficial collaborations. Stokely Carmichael described Tricontinental magazine as "a bible in revolutionary circles" FT. In this particular poster Cuban designer Abreu demonstrates visual solidarity with the Black Panthers by appropriating one of Emory Douglas's images. When discussing his influences in a 2015 interview Emory Douglas explained the circle of inspiration solidarity and informal collaboration between himself and OSPAAAL: "I was influenced more not by artists but more by revolutionary art of that time like the political art that came out of Vietnam and Cuba amazing political posters by - Tri-Continental posters OSPAAAL posters out of Cuba". In reference to his own artistic involvement with OSPAAAL Douglas went on to explain ". what happened is they used to remix them with the images that I did and send them back out into the world in solidarity with the people's struggle around the world. So in that context we were linked together by our solidarity in relationship to fighting against the oppression that was going on around the world in our very different ways. So that was the connection not that of one directly working with them in any way that what would be considered a formal way but in a more like indirect informal way where they would see art that I'd done in the The Black Panther paper and they would remix them into posters and redesign them and send them out to the world. We used to get them in the mail and stuff like that so it was a good thing then; it wasn't like plagiarising because it was solidarity in the context of the struggle and highlighting the contradictions in the struggle and sharing those kinds of images. So in that connection the artwork was linked and there was that connection." This poster appears in a number of exhibitions and catalogues including 'Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas' NY: Rizzoli 2014 and 'You Say You Want a Revolution Records and Rebels 1966-1970' London: V&A 2016. Original poster 530 x 355 mm mounted and framed 672 x 493 mm. 3 horizontal creases from folding as is usual else near-fine. Presented in a black wooden frame with conservation acrylic glazing. Angelica McKinley and Giovanni Russonello "Fifty Years Later Black Panthers' Art Still Resonates" New York Times 15 October 2016. Anny Shaw "The art behind Cuban propaganda" Financial Times 26 September 2019. Dhruv Shah "Interview With Revolutionary Artist Emory Douglas" I am Hip Hop 20 January 2015. Available online. unknown
Peter Harrington · Royaume-Uni2 000,00 £GB≈ 2 283,60 €
