Defended to Death
Poster
1983 (made)
1983 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Peter Kennard's photomontages were the graphic face of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the early 1980s. The media dubbed him Britain's 'unofficial war artist' and his work appeared in diverse contexts from the local launderette to the United Nations in Geneva. He writes 'For me, getting the work out into the world and used is as important as its production.' This poster was a part of a 'Peace Posters' pack which the radical Greater London Council of 1982-1986 produced in collaboration with Kennard. It was intended for schools, community centres and trade unions.
Object details
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| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Colour offset lithography |
| Brief description | 'Defended to Death' Nuclear Disarmament poster for the Greater London Council by Gladwin and Kennard, UK, 1983 |
| Physical description | Full colour photomontage of planet Earth wearing a gas mask. In the left and right lenses of the mask goggles are the flags of America and USSR, respectively. From the mouthpiece of the mask spews a cluster of nine missiles in black & white. On a black background. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'Photomontage © Peter Kennard 1983' (white on black, upper right corner) |
| 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 | |
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| Summary | Peter Kennard's photomontages were the graphic face of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the early 1980s. The media dubbed him Britain's 'unofficial war artist' and his work appeared in diverse contexts from the local launderette to the United Nations in Geneva. He writes 'For me, getting the work out into the world and used is as important as its production.' This poster was a part of a 'Peace Posters' pack which the radical Greater London Council of 1982-1986 produced in collaboration with Kennard. It was intended for schools, community centres and trade unions. |
| 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.1342 - Leslie Schreyer Loan Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1507-2004 |
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| Record created | June 11, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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