Pinko Magazine Hedonism + Activism

This year is the 75th Anniversary of the Works Progress Administration, which means it’s also the 75th Anniversary of the design and printing of some completely awesome posters. From 1935 to 1943, the WPA Poster Division designed, printed, and distributed millions of posters to raise awareness about public issues and civic life. Many of these posters, however, were never saved or categorized; some have been lost forever and the bulk of the posters have never been celebrated publicly.

Thankfully, our good friend Ennis Carter is obsessed with them! Ennis (with an assist from Pinko beer critic Alex Peltz) has a book coming out this Fall called Posters for the People: Art of the WPA. It includes images from more than 500 posters; Ennis also tells some amazing stories about the artists, the values behind the project and the politics of the new deal.

So, clearly you need to buy someone a gift sometime soon. Or you need a coffee table book for your new apartment. What are you going to buy, Anne Geddes? Come on.

From the Posters for the People website:

The lavishly illustrated book Posters for the People: Art of the WPA amasses nearly 500 of the best and most striking posters designed by artists working in the 1930s and early 1940s for the government-sponsored Works Progress Administration, or WPA. Posters for the People presents these works for what they truly are: highly accomplished and powerful examples of American art. All are iconic and eye-catching, some are humorous and educational, and many combine modern art trends with the techniques of advertising and commercial designs.

Roughly 125 posters in this collection were never cataloged by the federal government and represent exciting new additions to the WPA Living Archive, the most comprehensive online database of WPA posters known to exist. This ever-growing virtual archive will be launched in September 2008 and will bring to light countless posters that haven’t been seen by the public in more than 70 years.

Convinced!? Awesome. Click here to pre-order the book. There are some special offers on the site too.

Not convinced? Boo. Look at that great cover! Okay fine: here is a great interview with Ennis about social arts and political propaganda and after the jump, a couple of our favorite posters from the book.

About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.