Presse Libre

Poster from the Mai 1968 (May 1968) student uprising in France.

About These Posters

In May 1968, a small student movement in Paris quickly escalated into mass protests, a general strike across France, and street battles against police and university administrators. To this day, it is considered a cultural, social, and moral turning point in the history of France. The best and most important documents that survive from that time are posters - simple silkscreens that speak volumes through bold graphics and brutal slogans. Most of these posters were created by the student-run Atelier Populaire in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

Most of the original posters were lost to the ravages of time and the few remaining originals are now collectors items. Thankfully, some of these posters are available in digital form - scattered across the wide expanse of the internet - albeit as grainy low resolution images. Over the last 20 years i have collected over 250 such images. The digital restoration of these images was painstakingly slow. I had to scan, digitally clean up, and vectorize each image individually so they looked as close to their original as possible while generating a large enough digital file that could be printed at high resolutions.

There should be many other May '68 posters that I have missed. Let me know if you come across one and i will digitise it. Write to me if you want these posters in other sizes, framed options, or if you want to place a bulk order.

If you are interested, there is a book about the May 1968 posters that I highly recommend.

mai68posters at gmail dot com