Asger Jorn – AID OS ETUIDANTS QUIL PUISE ETUDIER E APRANDE EN LIBERTÉ

362.50

Revolution poster by Asger Jorn, umade in May 1968 in support of the French students in Paris

AID OS ETUIDANTS QUIL PUISE ETUDIER E APRANDE EN LIBERTÉ

1st edition printed 30 May 1968 in 100 copies.
2nd edition printed 7 June 1968 in 300 copies.
3rd edition printed 28 June 2022 in 400 copies.
Signed in stone.
Format: 51,1 x 32,8 cm

 

Four posters by Asger Jorn

Made in May 1968 in support of the French students in Paris

In May 1968, France saw its biggest social uprising in recent history with the youth revolt. What began as a student uprising in Nanterre in March and in Paris from early May developed after 13 May into a general strike with an estimated 10 million strikers. The crisis became political, and for a short time Charles de Gaulle appeared to be in a weak position. But with his speech on 30 May, dissolving the National Assembly and appealing to the "silent majority's" desire for "order", he turned the tide.

And on the night of 30 May 1968, Asger Jorn and the lithographer Peter Bramsen decided to produce a series of posters in support of the youth uprising. The result was the now famous Revolution Poster. With deliberate misspellings and distortions of the slogans of the rebellion, Jorn expressed his sympathy with the students' struggle. Four posters were printed on one sheet and then divided into four posters. Each with its own expression and philosophical text by Jorn.

At the time, materials were in short supply in Paris and Peter Bramsen was unable to obtain paper for the entire edition. Cleaning fluid for the rollers could not be obtained either. So the guys at the garage had to go out in the dead of night and get some petrol from the parked cars in the area. Therefore, only 100 copies were printed on the night of 30 May. The following week, on 7 June, materials for 300 extra copies were successfully obtained. The originally agreed print run of 1000 copies was never completed.

More than 50 years pass and Peter Bramsen and his wife decide, after a long life in Paris, to move back to Denmark. During the move, Peter Bramsen finds the original old films that the second edition, on 7 June 1968, was printed after and remembers the missing copies in the edition. Thus the idea for the 3rd edition was born. Museum Jorn is contacted and approves the project. It is agreed that a further 400 copies of the poster will be printed in the Litho press from the original old editions. 3rd edition to be printed 28 June 2022. The poster is divided into four as originally intended and all copies are stamped on the back with the dates of the start of printing of the 3 editions.