Political Poster by a Graffiti Artist

In looking around for a keepsake to remind me of this historic election for President of the United States, I came across a pin of the Obama Progress poster. I was surprised to learn that the poster was done by a street artist named Shepard Fairey.

It is amazing to see how graffiti artists have come up in the art world, from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring to Banksy and now Shepard Fairey, who will have his first museum retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

I came across the website ‘Pictorial Americana’ by the Print Division of the Library of Congress, which has presidential campaign images from 1836 to 1908. A number of these images were done by important lithographers, such as: Currier & Ives. Here is one for Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy for the sixteenth president of the United States…

For further information on political campaigns in the United States go to CATNYP, the Libraries online catalog and search ‘Political Campaigns United States’

To learn more: Check out a video discussing New York City’s role in presidential campaigns on the Museum of the City of New York website: Campaigning for President: New York and the American Election

http://discussions.mnhs.org/collections/?p=31

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/atm-objects-200811.html

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/default.htm