Never Again
Poster
1983 (made)
1983 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Peter Kennard wanted to inject renewed meaning into images of nuclear war which had become clichéd. This photomontage is one of a series of nine 'Warhead' works. He combines images of a mushroom cloud and a skeleton in order to reconnect the explosion with its horrific consequences for human life. The poster adds the exact dates and times at which nuclear bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, underscoring the fact that they were real events.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Offset lithograph printed in black and yellow |
| Brief description | 'Never Again' poster by Gladwin after Kennard's original photomontage, UK, 1983 |
| Physical description | Photomontage printed in black and white. The image shows the top half of a human skeleton. In place of a skull, is a mushroom cloud - the result of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. On either side of the neck bones, the words "NEVER" and "AGAIN" are printed in yellow. The half of the composition below the horizon is black. Small white type at the bottom left of the poster reads '8.15am 6-8-45 Hiroshima' and '11.02am 9-8-45 Nagasaki' at the bottom right. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'NEVER AGAIN' |
| Credit line | Gift of the American Friends of the V&A; Gift to the American Friends by Leslie, Judith and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Peter Kennard wanted to inject renewed meaning into images of nuclear war which had become clichéd. This photomontage is one of a series of nine 'Warhead' works. He combines images of a mushroom cloud and a skeleton in order to reconnect the explosion with its horrific consequences for human life. The poster adds the exact dates and times at which nuclear bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, underscoring the fact that they were real events. |
| Bibliographic reference | This poster was one of eleven small format posters issued by the Greater London Council with the series title 'GLC Peace Posters Pack’, designed by Kennard with a foreword by E.P. Thompson. The first print run of 800 packs were sent out free of charge to various anti-war and anti-nuclear groups, community groups, schools and local authorities around the UK. A report from October 1983 reveals that demand for the posters, commissioned in February of that year, had far exceeded the initial print run. With the GLC receiving about fifty requests per day, a second print run of 2000 were produced to meet popular demand.
For further information, see 'Dispatches from an Unofficial War Artist' (Aldershot, Hampshire: Lund Humphries, 2000) and 'Beyond The Campaign for a Popular Culture’: Community Art, Activism and Cultural Democracy in 1980s London', a 2017 doctoral thesis by Hazel A. Atashroo, University of Southampton. |
| Other number | LS.1331 - Leslie Schreyer Loan Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1496-2004 |
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| Record created | June 10, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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