1989 Original Poster for Artis 89's Images Internationales Pour Les Droits De l'Homme Et Du Citoyen - White Only

Description

Date: 1989
Size: 23.5 x 33 inches
Artist: Cerri, Pierluigi

About the artist:

This powerful poster was created by Pierluigi … more Date: 1989
Size: 23.5 x 33 inches
Artist: Cerri, Pierluigi

About the artist:

This powerful poster was created by Pierluigi Cerri. Born in 1939, Cerri created designs for some of the most important Italian publishing houses, curated several important exhibitions and worked as a designer for multiple world-renowned museums. Cerri’s poster features a famous painting by Le Barbier titled Declaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen (1789). The left side symbolizes the French people freeing themselves from the shackles of the old regime while the right side shows the supreme being pointing to the Eye of Providence coming out from behind dark clouds. The “White Only” stamp is a comment on the non-universality of the concept of human rights, in which those of people of color are still often overlooked.

About The Poster:

In 1989, to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution, Artis 89 asked 66 international artists and designers to create an original poster that would celebrate the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Artis 89 planned a series of simultaneous exhibitions around the world and an accompanying poster catalog.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen is an important human civil rights document that dates back to the 1789 revolution which, combined with Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Bill of Rights, greatly inspired the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration consists of articles concerning equality, freedom, safety, property, and resistance against oppression. Each poster in this collection references one or more of these rights.

The Artis poster collection was named Images internationals pour Les droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen and was printed by Imprimerie Marchand using offset lithography.

The cover page poster for the project, designed by the Grapus Collective reads:

“The World and the declaration of the rights of man. The declaration of the rights of man in the world. These two ideas have given birth to this poster exhibition commemorating the bi-centenary of the French Revolution – a project also inspired by the Warsaw Biennale which, since its creation in 1966, has been a melting pot of social and cultural images. Having involved 66 contemporary artists in this project, we asked them to express, from their own cultural viewpoint, the power of the concept of human rights. Our commitment was to promote their freedom of expression through the execution of this project. Several hundred copies of this event have been distributed and will be shown simultaneously around the world. Carried by this wave, other creators, researchers, and participants on the struggle for human rights have contributed to the bilingual book accompanying the exhibition. “FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, histories, images, and voices” brings together texts, reports, and thoughts on this common denominator: LIBERTY. We are proud to present this artistic and intellectual creation, this blend of hope and lucidity which is our modest contribution to the commemoration of bi-centenary. We invite you to share it with us, to help further its ideals.”

This poster shows some signs of wear on its edges. less