Art/Works -
American Labor Posters
Lincoln Cushing and Timothy W. Drescher
Cornell University Press, 2009
Despite the existence of labor images going back to some of the earliest examples of representational art, very little has been done in this country to acknowledge the contribution labor posters have made to our national culture. Other countries, including Germany, England, and Australia, take this genre seriously, but ironically it has been up to foreign scholars to produce some of the best research and successful publications on our own culture. The few books that treat these posters are either broader art exhibit catalogs or illustrated sections of books on specific labor themes, such as the history of the Industrial Workers of the World. No single U.S.-published title exists which offers a broad survey of this specific art form. The graphics themselves have experienced the general fate of other “oppositional” cultural documents, where low social status has resulted in public neglect.
Art/Works - American Labor Posters, by Lincoln Cushing and Timothy W. Drescher, to be published by Cornell University Press in 2009, will begin to fill this void. Art/Works will include over 100 full-color images (from a database of over 800 posters) and roughly 20,000 words, plus a bibliography and index. The book will feature many important labor archives and special collections such as those listed here. Images will be clustered into annotated subject areas, such as “Dignity & Exploitation,” “Race & Civil Rights,” “Internationalism & Peace,” “Organizing & Solidarity,” “Strikes & Boycotts,” “Democracy, Voting & Patriotism,” and “Heroes, Martyrs & History.” For each image the historical background will be supplemented with aesthetic analysisthat will help readers understand the social forces represented in the graphics as well as the cultural origins and design strategies. This will be presented through both narrative text and visual examples of iconographic sources and derivations. Although a few of the posters are by well-known artists such as Ben Shahn or Rockwell Kent, most are by less-known professional artists and amateurs. The scope includes historical and contemporary examples. Now is our chance to talk about them.
And, unlike almost every other full color art book published these days, at the authors’ request this will be printed at a North American union shop..
In order to keep this book affordable (expected retail price should be around $25) so it gets into the hands of the working people that will appreciate it most, Cornell University Press needs a subsidy (known in the publishing industry as “subvention”) of $20,000. The Fund for Labor Culture and History has graciously agreed to serve as nonprofit fiscal agent.
We need your help to spread the word about this project and to raise the subvention funds. Please ask your union local, international, or labor-support organization to help us bring these important works before the public by contributing to the fundraising or placing advance bulk orders. All donations are tax-deductible – please make checks out to “Art/Works c/o Fund for Labor Culture and History.”
This project is endorsed by the California Labor Federation.
Thank you.
In solidarity,
Lincoln Cushing and Tim Drescher
Art/Works
www.docspopuli.com/ArtWorks.html
822 Santa Barbara Road, Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 418-5193
Image credits:
WE do mind dying, Doug Minkler, 1980; Cushing Archive.
There is no prejudice in kids unless adults put it there, UAW Fair Practices Department, circa 1963; Reuther Archive.
Protect yourself from this menace; IWW, circa 1921; Reuther Archive.
Black Workers Congress, 1971; Cushing Archive.
Working women: we can shut this country down, Nancy Hom, 1980; Cushing Archive (digital)
I am somebody - together we are strong, United Farm Workers of America, circa 1977; Reuther Archive.
Justice for janitors in San Francisco, Kristin Prentice for SEIU Local 87, 1995; Inkworks Press Archive.
Printable PDF flyer of this solicitation letter
Return to Docs Populi - Documents for the public
Also see:"Rosie the Riveter"image is not the same as "We Can Do It!"
Also see related site: Art Works: The Ray Smith Symposium ; The Role of the Arts in U.S. Workers' Struggles
April 22-24, 2008, Syracuse University
Co-author Lincoln Cushing will be on a panel
