Sture Johannesson's excellent poster: “Revolution Means Revolutionary Consciousness” (1968 )
"The poster was made as a paraphrase on Eugene Delacroix famous painting Liberty Leading the People, 1848. Instead of a woman showing her breast holding a gun and a banner, on the poster there is a naked woman holding a peace pipe and a sun feather with the text “Revolution Means Revolutionary Consciousness”. Notably is also the hemp leaf and the small bubbles of Che Guevara’s head rising from the pipe. A small version of the Liberty Leading the People is included in the poster. It indicated a pacifist alternative to the romance of violence surrounding the armed struggle demanded by the revolution.
The poster "Underground" titled “Revolution Means Revolutionary Consciousness” also known as "The Hashish Girl" was made for the art exhibition at Lunds art hall in 1968. The poster was thought so provocative for politicians in the Arts council of Lund that it was censored and burned. The political establishment blamed the poster for having a message glorifying drugs. The exhibition was stopped. The director, Folke Edwars, chose to resign as a protest against the censorship and the art gallery was closed down for one and a half year.
People from the Swedish establishment tried to stop Sture Johannesson both by getting him to be declared mentally ill and by harassing his friend and family. His controversial work was stopped and censored by the people in power and his carrier obstructed from the sixties onwards. Today the poster is one of the icons representing the Swedish freedom and the sixties. But the story behind it is one covering the repression by the Swedish establishment against a single artist."
The poster "Underground" titled “Revolution Means Revolutionary Consciousness” also known as "The Hashish Girl" was made for the art exhibition at Lunds art hall in 1968. The poster was thought so provocative for politicians in the Arts council of Lund that it was censored and burned. The political establishment blamed the poster for having a message glorifying drugs. The exhibition was stopped. The director, Folke Edwars, chose to resign as a protest against the censorship and the art gallery was closed down for one and a half year.
People from the Swedish establishment tried to stop Sture Johannesson both by getting him to be declared mentally ill and by harassing his friend and family. His controversial work was stopped and censored by the people in power and his carrier obstructed from the sixties onwards. Today the poster is one of the icons representing the Swedish freedom and the sixties. But the story behind it is one covering the repression by the Swedish establishment against a single artist."
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