For the uninitiated, Emory Douglas was an active member of the Black Panther Party, responsible for the design of the movement as ‘Revolutionary Artist’, then Minister of Culture. And his work is currently being celebrated with an exhibition at Manchester’s Urbis – Emory Douglas and The Art of Revolution.
The exhibition highlights Douglas’ work for the party, including posters, cartoons and campaign pamphlets – and if you head down to the Urbis store, you can pick up prints of the man’s work, along with some rather cool Black Panther t-shirts and tote bags (sadly not available to buy online). More information on the Urbis exhibition can be found here.
If you want to spend a little more for something very exclusive, Station 4 is offering limited edition signed silkscreen prints featuring propaganda artwork first seen in the Black Panther newspaper in 1970 and 1971.
The first batch of images is now available to buy, with a further nine prints completing the collection later this year. Take your pick from Warning to America, Our People’s Army and They Should Be Paying My Rent, all sized at 20 x 30 inches, all limited to 150 units and all silkscreen printed on archival cotton rag paper. They retail for £200 each and are limited to one per customer.
Promoting racist thugs, eh?
Well, we’re not actually ‘promoting’ anyone, we’re pointing out the early 70s artwork that’s currently on display at an art gallery and for sale at a leading print seller, which is very representative of an era now long gone.
We’ll leave the rights and wrongs of political movements to others.
Once money gets involved, objects aren’t about promoting anything but cultural status. Any revolutionary (or if you prefer, thuggish) qualities and connotations of the work go out the window when you charge someone for the privilege to display the product and impress their friends and family. If you need more proof; consider the number of products bearing the image of Che Guevara/Mao Tse-Tong/the Red Star with the number of socialist revolutions that have occurred in the past 15 years. I believe the number is something like -20,
As art it’s valid, compelling and historical. I’m sure the proceeds won’t be funding an illegal war anywhere soon (that’s best left to your tax).
“Racist thugs”? When does self-defense = racistm?