Empechóns Cela
Printer
Affiches Atar, Genève
Switzerland
Artist
Hans Erni
Switzerland, 1909 - 2015
Date1954
MediumSilkscreen
Dimensions50 1/4 x 36 1/8 in. (127.6 x 91.8 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.7169
DescriptionFormed in 1949 by an alliance of nine European Communist parties commonly known as Cominform, the World Peace Council (WPC) was a propaganda arm of the Soviet Union that openly promoted disarmament and peace. At the time, the U.S.S.R. was losing the nuclear arms race, so encouraging other countries to curb their own developments in that sphere was to its benefit. Commissioned by the Swiss Movement for Peace in honor of the WPC’s “Appeal Against the Preparations for Nuclear War,” this arresting design was created by one of Switzerland’s most important and prolific poster artists, Hans Erni—a lifelong pacifist who often donated his talents to causes he supported. The poster was released during the 1954 Geneva Conference that focused on escalating tensions in French Indochina (present-day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos as well as other Southeast Asian territories) between French forces and local Communist revolutionaries. In the lead-up to the pivotal Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the United States had been negotiating the potential use of the atomic bomb in support of France. This poster was banned within Geneva during those meetings.
This poster is often heralded as the first to condemn the nuclear arms race, emphasizing its global consequences. It was issued in three of the four official languages of Switzerland: German, Italian, and, as shown here, French.
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