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Protest!: A History of Social and Political Protest Graphics
An authoritative, richly illustrated history of six centuries of global protest art
Throughout history, artists and citizens have turned to protest art as a means of demonstrating social and political discontent. From the earliest broadsheets in the 1500s to engravings, photolithographs, prints, posters, murals, graffiti, and political cartoons, these endlessly inventive graphic forms have symbolized and spurred on power struggles, rebellions, spirited causes, and calls to arms. Spanning continents and centuries, Protest! presents a major new chronological look at protest graphics.
Beginning in the Reformation, when printed visual matter was first produced in multiples, Liz McQuiston follows the iconic images that have accompanied movements and events around the world. She examines fine art and propaganda, including William Hogarth’s Gin Lane , Thomas Nast’s political caricatures, French and British comics, postcards from the women’s suffrage movement, clothing of the 1960s counterculture, the anti-apartheid illustrated book How to Commit Suicide in South Africa , the “Silence=Death” emblem from the AIDS crisis, murals created during the Arab Spring, electronic graphics from Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution, and the front cover of the magazine Charlie Hebdo . Providing a visual exploration both joyful and brutal, McQuiston discusses how graphics have been used to protest wars, call for the end to racial discrimination, demand freedom from tyranny, and satirize authority figures and regimes.
From the French, Mexican, and Sandinista revolutions to the American civil rights movement, nuclear disarmament, and the Women’s March of 2017, Protest! documents the integral role of the visual arts in passionate efforts for change.
Throughout history, artists and citizens have turned to protest art as a means of demonstrating social and political discontent. From the earliest broadsheets in the 1500s to engravings, photolithographs, prints, posters, murals, graffiti, and political cartoons, these endlessly inventive graphic forms have symbolized and spurred on power struggles, rebellions, spirited causes, and calls to arms. Spanning continents and centuries, Protest! presents a major new chronological look at protest graphics.
Beginning in the Reformation, when printed visual matter was first produced in multiples, Liz McQuiston follows the iconic images that have accompanied movements and events around the world. She examines fine art and propaganda, including William Hogarth’s Gin Lane , Thomas Nast’s political caricatures, French and British comics, postcards from the women’s suffrage movement, clothing of the 1960s counterculture, the anti-apartheid illustrated book How to Commit Suicide in South Africa , the “Silence=Death” emblem from the AIDS crisis, murals created during the Arab Spring, electronic graphics from Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution, and the front cover of the magazine Charlie Hebdo . Providing a visual exploration both joyful and brutal, McQuiston discusses how graphics have been used to protest wars, call for the end to racial discrimination, demand freedom from tyranny, and satirize authority figures and regimes.
From the French, Mexican, and Sandinista revolutions to the American civil rights movement, nuclear disarmament, and the Women’s March of 2017, Protest! documents the integral role of the visual arts in passionate efforts for change.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published October 29, 2019
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155 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 11, 2021
Just by holding it in your hands, you can easily feel the the ambitious goal of this book: covering more than 500 years of history worldwide through written dissent.
Yeah, watch out: it's heavy and huge and it will require a consistent bookshelf.
This being said I enjoyed most of the selected material. In the book we can find the replicas of some iconic posters and signs and many many others that i personally did not know.
What i did not like at all is the lazyness of the written text. Don't even bother reading the historical intros to all the chapters, since they are literally COPYPASTED in the next few pages under each poster taken into account. Such a shame
What's more, I was expecting more in depth analysis from the author, in most cases the comment is on a very basic level, staying on a simple graphical explaination (such as "here we can see this person doing this action") or a short historical context. At certain points I was even wondering if high schoolers were the original targeted audience rather than adults. And finally, since the book costs almost 50€ (new)..well, i suggest you scroll it in your local bookstor or public library and just pass by
Yeah, watch out: it's heavy and huge and it will require a consistent bookshelf.
This being said I enjoyed most of the selected material. In the book we can find the replicas of some iconic posters and signs and many many others that i personally did not know.
What i did not like at all is the lazyness of the written text. Don't even bother reading the historical intros to all the chapters, since they are literally COPYPASTED in the next few pages under each poster taken into account. Such a shame
What's more, I was expecting more in depth analysis from the author, in most cases the comment is on a very basic level, staying on a simple graphical explaination (such as "here we can see this person doing this action") or a short historical context. At certain points I was even wondering if high schoolers were the original targeted audience rather than adults. And finally, since the book costs almost 50€ (new)..well, i suggest you scroll it in your local bookstor or public library and just pass by
October 27, 2019
A thoughtful and inspiring coffee table book containing over 400 images of protest art and photography from the 16th century up to the present day. Really impressive.
May 15, 2022
Most of the images in the book are from the 1900s onward and definitely has an American and British slant. There are posters and other images from other countries included, such as South Africa, Spain, and Japan.
This book definitely has a leftist slant to boot, which is cool, but I would have appreciated some images and explanation on images that are from the political right and far-right. I remember anti-war posters around the WW1 and WW2 era that were quite shocking, but those type of images are not included. I also would have appreciated more content and more context, which could be quite sparse and repetitive (look at this image, isn't unsettling? I feel I read that 20 times over in this book).
This book definitely has a leftist slant to boot, which is cool, but I would have appreciated some images and explanation on images that are from the political right and far-right. I remember anti-war posters around the WW1 and WW2 era that were quite shocking, but those type of images are not included. I also would have appreciated more content and more context, which could be quite sparse and repetitive (look at this image, isn't unsettling? I feel I read that 20 times over in this book).
December 26, 2020
A History of Social and Political Protest Graphics by Liz McQuiston is a really shocking, and provocative overview of the centuries of protest. Starting from 1500. up to modern times Protest! shows that human desire for change is permanent, and visual initiatives made by activists serve as a flashback to times past, that sometimes seem as relevant as they were when they were made. On some parts of our little planet change comes more slowly than the others, so Protest! is a book really needed in every library, not only as a testament of magnific visual works but also as a reminder that desire for change never stops.
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December 16, 2020Read for my writing seminar at UPenn. I thoroughly enjoyed the historical context and also meeting the author herself! I will forever keep this text - it's simply too beautiful.
February 12, 2025
Creative collection of protest art through the ages
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews