Artwork Title: Kiss for Peace

Kiss for Peace, 1967

Tomi Ungerer

For me the Vietnam era is also punctuated by Ungerer’s anti-war posters, including “Kiss for Peace,” depicting an American soldier forcing a Vietnamese to lick Lady Liberty’s ass. This turbulent period, which helped defined me as a person, is forever underscored by Ungerer’s critical vision. (https://www.typotheque.com/articles/tomi_ungerer_a_childhood_under_the_nazis) "... a poster has to hit you. And this is very interesting because in German the word slogan is translated as a “fist-word,” Schlagwort. Schlag means hitting. So it’s a word that hits. It’s the same with visuals, because even if a poster goes by on a bus, it has to stay in your mind." (https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/30/all-in-one-an-interview-with-tomi-ungerer/) Despite employing the same bold colors and graphics he uses to create playful and imaginative characters for younger audiences, Ungerer’s unapologetic, even crude, pictures—a blindfolded and muffled reporter in No Freedom without Freedom of the Press (1962), or an army pilot painting figures of crying Vietnamese children on his plane in Choice Not Chance (1967)—speak to Ungerer’s audacity and his values, honoring integrity over prudence. (https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/in-the-wake-of-charlie-hedbo-tomi-ungerer-retrospective-strikes-poignant-note/)
Uploaded on Apr 22, 2017 by Suzan Hamer

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