"The Ann Tompkins (Tang Fandi) and Lincoln Cushing Chinese Poster Collection preserves a genre of art that was known to and accepted by hundreds of millions of Chinese during the years of the Cultural Revolution. The posters’ images and the directives they supported once influenced a quarter of the world’s population. Anyone attempting to understand this period will want to study these posters, not simply as illustrations of the era but as expressions of its ideals and vicissitudes. These posters were everywhere in China during the Cultural Revolution. Although seldom encountered today, they occupy an important place in history and are a valued addition to the East Asian Library’s collections."
-Peter Zhou, EAL Director

"The holdings continue to grow, and a recent addition is a highly valued collection of political posters from China's Cultural Revolution that, as Zhou notes, vividly convey the ideals and upheaval of what has been called "the largest social-engineering effort in the history of mankind."
-"Cal's East Asian library's gold is on shelves," by Charles Burress, San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, March 17, 2008.

Chinese Posters: Art from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, by Lincoln Cushing and Ann Tompkins, 2007.
Order details here.

Other recent poster books, including several on Chinese posters.

Red all over, 2007 article in American Institute of Graphic Arts Voice on U.S.-China-Cuba graphics.

Commentary in S.F. Chronicle book review section on this subject.
"Of course, any period in the past was more complex than any conventional period." -Michael S. Roth, President of Wesleyan University


Book talks

Sunday June 1, Book Passage (Corte Madera, CA), 2:00

Saturday, June 21, Barnes & Noble (San Francisco, Taylor Street store) 3:00

Saturday, June 28 Eastwind Books (Berkeley) 3:30