Human by RebeccaG

Atelier Populaire and silkscreen printing

Fig. 1. “the struggles continue”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Contents 1. Atelier Populaire 2. Anonymity 3. How the posters were made

student protests

In 1968 there was a lot of worldwide civil unrest, which led to there being many protests all around the world. In the United States many of the protests were caused by the Vietnan War, Racism, Revisionism and Sexism. These mass movement were also seen in western Europe in places such as Paris, London, Berlin and Rome. Most of these movements were heavily dominated by students.The most notable being the protests held in France in May 1968. It began with protests over university reform, but actions quickly escalated causing widespread strikes among students and up to 10 million workers. This period of civil unrest lasted around seven weeks and showed the movement as being so powerful that it was thought they could overthrow the government. The movement in France ended up producing a new visual language used for protests that still resonate over fifty years later. While the design was often pretty crude and rough, posters were known for being very inspiring and powerful. Some of the best known silkscreen printed posters came from the Atelier Populaire. This was a clandestine printshop that was set up by the students at the time in Ecole des Beaux-Arts in “young people really didn’t have a lot of say in how their lives were run, especially at universities”, says Sarah Wison, another young person who was ‘radicalised’ by visits to Paris, Algeria and Cuba before joining the Poster workshop.” Since screen printing is cheap to set up and use, it is also easy to become efficient at and master. The equipment used in silkscreen printing was deliberately kept simple and easily obtainable so that anyone could print their own posters. The equipment was also fairly light and easily transportable so workshops could be set up almost anywhere.

Fig. 2. Atelier Populaire, École des beaux-arts, circa 1968.

Fig. 3. Atelier Populaire, École des beaux-arts: “La chienlit c’est lui”, circa 1968.

The workshop

The posters from this printshop were then used to protest issues all over the world, issues such as rent, industrial strikes, the Vietnam War and civil rights movements in America, South Africa and Ireland. Regardless of the topic or message that they were portraying, the overall style was consistent everywhere. They would only use one or two bold colours, crude by hand designs, and they usually had some simplistic imagery. Because of this they were accessible for everyone and anyone to understand. Their fairly crude design I think went in their favour because it made them come off a lot more human. This sense of humanity made the posters a lot easier to connect to, especially ones that portrayed messages of solidarity. So they not only came off as bold and firm with their strict choice of colour, but they were also easily able to tip over into striking. Their style in general gives off a sense of unity, in so far as it very effortlessly pulls the reader in and makes them apart of the collective. It is not a matter of “you” and “I”, but a matter of “us” and “them”. And since making these posters were so cheap and you could make a lot of them in a short period of time, it meant that they could be used in a fairly new way; this being that they were pasted on walls all over the streets in a very disposable manner. Then when they weren’t relevant anymore they would just be ripped down and or pasted over. This meant they were able to go through a lot of different posters in a short period of time, thus overall would have a lot more impact on the general public because you would just end up seeing the posters so much and in such large quantities. So much so that the message being portrayed ended up being near impossible to just ignore or avoid. In 1968, a wave of student movements broke out all over the world. Protests began happening in France, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Argentina and America.

Atelier Populaire

The space of Atelier Populaire produced a vivid iconography during the 1968 revolutionary movement in Paris. Some of there images demonstrate a tactic of ironic interruption, while others are dialectical images that evoke political memories of resistance, and the movement’s democratic commitment as well. This paper traces the tactic of irony, along with the memory of resistance to the Algerian war during the early 1960s, arguing that both the social space of the Atelier itself and the political memories evoked in its posters shaped the revolutionary movement. Although the movement was unsuccessful in transforming the state, it did transform social space, opening up a terrain for the new social movements of the 1970s. Furthermore, the international memory of May ‘68 continues to influence contemporary revolutionary movements, including Occupy and the Arab Spring. On May 15, 1968, students of the École des Beaux-Arts and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (Arts-Deco) occupied their campuses. Influenced by the outbreak of an earlier protest at Nanterre University and the Sorbonne, these art students participated in the growing revolutionary movement by occupying their schools and producing

revolutionary posters. They called themselves the Atelier Populaire. The practices and posters developed by the Atelier are a window into the movement itself, its processes, and its imagination; although the manifestations of that May are now more than 40 years in the past, we can still access a deep well spring of revolutionary practice through the vividly remembered and reproduced, and often ironic, posters of the Atelier Populaire. Any revolutionary movement can end ironically, with a combination of circumstances opposite of what is expected or for what is hoped. But perhaps no other such movement courted irony as a method of humorous or sarcastic expression in which the intended meaning of the words used is the direct opposite of their usual sense like the student revolutionaries of the Latin Quarter and their artistic allies at the Atelier Populaire during May]and June 1968. The space of Atelier Populaire produced a vivid iconography during the 1968 revolutionary movement in Paris. Some of there images demonstrate a tactic of ironic interruption, while others are dialectical images that evoke political memories of resistance, and the movement’s democratic commitment as well.

Poster Design Atelier Populaire called their posters “weapons in the service of the struggle”. They also were known for having worked in a very egalitarian way, this can be seen in the way they put stamps on a lot of their prints that credit the movement/ group as a whole rather than any individual artist. This was done to protect the anonymity of the artist so they could express their grievances without having to worry about the repercussions of those beliefs on the particular individual. Many of Atelier Populaire’s posters also show the same imagery over and over, giving them a distinct look that can be seen seeping into other movements and areas of design. Since a large part of the protests in France at the time were surrounding the workforce, most of their posters contain variations of imagery portraying factories. Each time usually showing a chimney stack with slanted angular roofs. They also created the iconic raised fist, which is seen in so many protests and campaigns to date; such as the Black lives matter movement. Their poster styles and work ethics are seen in a massive number of protests and movements that have taken place since 1968.

Fig. 4. Atelier Populaire, “Pouvoir Populaire”, circa 1968.

Group vs Individual

Atelier Populaire was known to work in a very egalitarian way, this can be seen in the way they put stamps on a lot of their prints that credit the movement/ group as a whole rather than any individual artist. This was done to protect the anonymity of the artist so they could express their grievances without having to worry about the repercussions of those beliefs on the particular individual. The identity of the artists that created them is one of the great unsolved mysteries in the modern history of protest art, yet the body of work these anonymous designers produced remains one of the most powerful testaments to the revolutionary spirit of the age in which they worked. Some 48 posters were knocked up in the factories and art schools of strife-torn France at the height of les événements urging students and workers to take to the barricades to paralyse Charles de Gaulle’s ultra-conservative government with a series of strikes and demonstrations. They go on display at the Hayward Gallery later this month as part of a series of events marking the 40th anniversary of the uprisings that engulfed Europe in 1968. The unique collection was assembled by the New Yorkbased writer and curator Johan Kugelberg. Among the silkscreen works, hastily produced and plastered on walls and buildings, are posters urging students to support the factory workers and warning the public against ovine compliance with the ageing president’s reactionary rule.At the height of the turmoil, when students took over the École des Beaux Arts to form the Atelier Populaire, or Popular Workshop, the posters were described by student leaders as “weapons in the service of the struggle... an inseparable part of it”. Mr Kugelberg has spent the past decade painstakingly putting together his collection. He believes only 150 to 200 were ever produced during just a few weeks of that year. “These are really, really rare,” he said. “The problem you have is that you cannot go to Sotheby’s or Christie’s or look on eBay for them.

Fig. 5. Atelier Populaire, “Oui a la participation”, circa 1968.

Strenght in numbers

Since making these posters were so cheap and you could make a lot of them in a short period of time, it meant that they could be used in a fairly new way; this being that they were pasted on walls all over the streets in a very disposable manner. Then when they weren’t relevant anymore they would just be ripped down and or pasted over. This meant they were able to go through a lot of different posters in a short period of time, thus overall would have a lot more impact on the general public because you would just end up seeing the posters so much and in such large quantities. So much so that the message being portrayed ended up being near impossible to just ignore or avoid. Between 14 May and 27 June, when the police entered the school, the Atelier Populaire printed more than 350 different posters. With anonymous designs and distributed free of charge, screenprints and lithographs were conceived in support of the workers’ struggle, becoming one of the more evident manifestations of the emerging solidarity between students and workers. The very first poster created by art students at the École des Beaux- Arts was a simple lithograph, with the words Usines University, Union. The poster was the first tangible image that proclaimed the goals of the 1968 student movement quite simply, the joining together of the workers’ movement and the student movement.6 This poster was likely printed on quality paper from the university stores, with quality purple lithographic ink, while later posters relied on the end rolls of newsprint donated from sympathetic newspapers and cheap ink gathered from whatever source was available around Paris.7 The question following its printing was, “what to do with the posters?” Roughly 50 printed posters were left to be distributed after posting a few on the Atellier walls. The decisions made from this point on illuminate the importance of the print, and its centrality to the movement itself. The posters were taken just a few blocks south of the University, to the rue du Dragon the street that to this day houses art galleries specializing in quality prints. In bringing the posters to the rue du Dragon, the students of the École des Beaux-Arts followed the con- ventional channels of artistic production and allowed artistic dis- tribution to take its course.

Fig. 6. Atelier Populaire, École des beaux-arts, circa 1968.

The Message In 1968 there were many worldwide protests and expressions of change. The style of street campaign graphics and the method in which they were made all fell into unison, workshops such as Atelier Populaire and The Camden Poster Workshop were just two of the most noteworthy workshops in a time of such flux. But as seen through these two workshops, and around the world in places such as Mexico, Ireland and the United States, the over all style used, regardless of their location in the world stayed the same. They were bold and striking, while remaining crude and simple. Fast forward over half a century later, and the characteristics of these revolutionary prints are still used as the corner stone in street campaigns and political campaigns alike. The use of silkscreen printing by street campaigners back in 1968 has forever changed the way we campaign messages of solidarity and unity throughout the masses. Because of how impactful they’ve been over the decades, their colour, style and method of use is instantly recognisable. The posters made a clear and immediate impact to who ever saw them, and because of their crude amaturistic imagery, they remained human.

Fig. 7. “A youth disturbed too often by the future”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Fig. 8. “Atelier Populaire: Visuals”, work adapted from The Workshop by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Visuals All of Atelier Populaire silkscreen posters consist of 1-3 bold colours, simplistic symbolism, and minimal typography. Colours such as red, blue, yellow, orange and purple are the main colours used by Atelier Populaire in their posters. While most of their typogrpahy is made via crudely cut out stencils they tended to be kept short. One word posters, or Posters with short expressions or taglines were most common. Examples of this are “the struggles continue” and “be young, shut up”. Unlike lithography, silk-screen printing uses a form of stencil to create a positive image. A silk or nylon screen stretched across a wooden frame is prepared with gum resin or another impermeable substance, and then ink is spread over the entire screen. The negative image gum resin prevents the ink from reaching the paper below, and the artist is left with the positive inked image. With this new medium, the revolution had found the means to produce powerful revolutionary posters; and in doing so, the movement transformed the world of French artistic production, spreading an acceptance of seriography as a valid and incredibly versatile technique throughout the French artistic community. With seriography as a revolutionary tactic in France came the birth of the Atelier Populaire as a revolutionary entity. Perfectly positioned to contribute to the revolutionary movement, the Atelier Populaire transformed printmaking in France almost literally overnight. The use of silkscreen printing by street campaigners back in 1968 has forever changed the way we campaign messages of solidarity and unity throughout the masses. Because of how impactful they’ve been over the decades, their colour, style and method of use is instantly recognisable. The posters made a clear and immediate impact to who ever saw them, and because of their crude amaturistic imagery, they remained human.

Fig. 9. Atelier Populaire, “La lutte continue”, circa 1968.

symbolism Atelier Populaire posters all share similar themes and imagery. In their posters imagery of factories, fists, and authority figures are frequently seen. In their poster “LA LUTTE CONTINUE” (fig. 7) you can see the first and the facory imagery being merged together, with the phrase “la lutte continue” in the image. “la lutte continue” translates to, the struggles continue. The use of pointed roofs and chimney stacks to show factories in their posters is because a lot of the protests that took place in 1968 were around factory workers and their rights. While the clenched fist is used to symbolise unity and strenght among the masses. Because of how impactful they’ve been over the decades, their colour, style and method of use is instantly recognisable. The posters made a clear and immediate impact to who ever saw them, and because of their crude amaturistic imagery, they remained human.

Fig. 10. “silkscreen print and street campaigning”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Fig. 11. The Workshop, “revolution ‘68”, circa 1968

Fig. 12. Atelier Populaire, “soutien aux usines occupees pour lavictoire do peuple”, circa 1968

The Atelier switched to silkscreening after initail trials of other printing methods, silkscreen printing was more affordable and more efficient, allowing them to produce up to 2,000 posters at a time. Soon the printmakers occupied factories that were shut down by striking workers, transforming centers of corporate manufacturing into publishers of dissent. Typically printed on cheap paper with a single color, raw lettering and imagery voiced support for labor strikes, they delivered simple, strong messages against colonialism, consumerism, police brutality, and attacks on the free press. The Atelier Populaire posters were rarely saved, and large collections are not often shown. Letterform Archive feels fortunate to have recently acquired several dozen posters, some of which are shown here. We recognize the complicated responsibility of holding this work as part of a historical collection. Members of the Atelier have raised questions about their prints being recognized as artifacts or works of art, preferring that they be seen only in their intended settings, “in the streets or on the walls of factories”. Acknowledging this conundrum, we present these images in the spirit of dialog, to raise awareness of the Atelier Populaire – of both its art and its intentions – and reconsider how such work should be recognized and preserved.

Fig. 13. “be young, shut up”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Bibliography

Cookney, Daniel. “May 1968: the posters that inspired a movement”. The Conversation. 11 May 2018. Web. 26 October 2020. Dawood, Sarah. “From Nope to Hope: the exhibition protesting the Design Museum” design week. 27 September 2018. Web. 28 November 2020 Dawood, Sarah. “Hope to Nope: the exhibition exploring the power of graphics in politics and protest” design week. 27 March2018. Web. 28 November 2020 Deaton, Clifford. “The Memory of May ’68: The Ironic Interruption and Democratic Commitment of the Atelier Populaire” Design Issues Vol. 29, No. 2 (Spring 2013): 29-41. jstor.org. Web. 23 November 2020 Lord, Sam. “Remembering 1968 – The Poster Workshop, 1968-7”. History Workshop. 9 July 2018. Web. 28 October 2020. McGuirk, Justin. “poster workshop; the art of revolution”. The Guardian. The Guardian 23 May 2011. Web. 30 October 2020. McNamara, Sara. “Posters, Politics and immigration during the May 1968 Protests in France”. Thesis. Scholar Works. 17 December 2010. Web 28 October 2020. Memou, Antigoni. “Forgotten Solidarities in the Atelier Populaire Posters”. Intellect Art & the Public Sphere 8(1), (2019): 2-21. researchgate.net. Web. 25 November 2020 Rose, Steve. “Poster Workshop: illustrating the protest years.” The Guardian. The Guardian 24 March 2011. Web. 29 October 2020.

Rose, Steve. “poster workshop; the art of revolution”. The Guardian. The Guardian 25 March 2011. Web. 29 October 2020.

Illustations

Fig. 1. “the struggles continue”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Fig. 2. Atelier Populaire, École des beaux-arts, circa 1968. Fig. 3. Atelier Populaire, École des beaux-arts: “La chienlit c’est lui”, circa 1968. Fig. 4. Atelier Populaire, “Pouvoir Populaire”, circa 1968. Fig. 5. Atelier Populaire, “Oui a la participation”, circa 1968. Fig. 6. Atelier Populaire, École des beaux-arts, circa 1968. Fig. 7. “A youth disturbed too often by the future”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021. Fig. 8. “Atelier Populaire: Visuals”, work adapted from The Workshop by Rebecca garrigan, 2021. Fig. 9. Atelier Populaire, “La lutte continue”, circa 1968. Fig. 10. “silkscreen print and street campaigning”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021. Fig. 11. The Workshop, “revolution ‘68”, circa 1968. Fig. 12. Atelier Populaire, “soutien aux usines occupees pour lavictoire do peuple”, circa 1968. Fig. 13. “be young, shut up”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021. Fig. 14. “HUMAN”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021. Fig. 15. Atelier Populaire, “La chienlit c’est lui”, circa 1968.

Fig. 14. “HUMAN”, work adapted from Atelier Populaire by Rebecca garrigan, 2021.

Fig. 15. Atelier Populaire, “La chienlit c’est lui”, circa 1968.

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