A REAL REVOLUTIONARY ARTIST








A couple of years back, as a big fan of revolutionary art (with a political purpose), I visited the Los Angeles Museum Of Contemporary Art for a show of the graphic art made by Emory Douglas while he worked as the Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the early 1980's.

Emory is considered the most prolific and persistent graphic agitator in the American Black Power movements. His graphic art was featured in most issues of the newspaper The Black Panther and has become an iconic representation of the struggles of the people and the Party during the 1960s and 70s.

As mentioned by Emory himself, his unique graphic style is a result of necessity, creative ingenuity and some time working in a prison’s printing shop (during his incarceration years). It has been borrowed by other revolutionary movements (the OSPAAAL cuban posters ran a couple of his art pieces) and cheapened by advertising campaigns worldwide.

Anyway, there's a great book on him (result of the MOCA show) out there and a bunch of originals of the Black Panther Party newspaper over eBay for sale. If you like graphic art and have some dough on you, I definitely recommend going after them. Its the kind of art you never get tired of looking at.



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