African posters. A catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, by Giorgio Miescher und Dag Henrichsen.

African posters. A catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, by Giorgio Miescher und Dag Henrichsen. ISBN 9783905141825 / ISBN 978-3-905141-82-5

Around 900 posters with a broad subject range are reproduced in African posters: A catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, compiled by Giorgio Miescher und Dag Henrichsen.

Dag Henrichsen  Giorgio Miescher  

Previous publications about posters have tended to concentrate on single themes, eras or stylistic trends. To our knowledge, there exists as yet no catalogue illustrating as many and such a thematic diversity of African posters as are ottered here. This selection should reveal the significance of posters in both everyday African life as well as for historical research, whether the subject is politics, consumerism, war, health or education. Since this catalogue is envisaged as a reference work, for each illustrated poster, we provide all the relevant available bibliographic data. Various factors played a role in the selection of the posters illustrated here. In order to present a broad cross-section, we have tried to select posters covering as many countries, time periods, themes, events and artistic styles as possible. At the same time, and bearing in mind its importance in BAB collections, emphasis is given to Namibia, while simultaneously comparing its posters to those from other countries and regions. The catalogue provides extensive documentation of poster production in one African country from multiple perspectives, and contextualises this within the entire framework of African posters as defined above. So as not to overwhelm the viewer and reader with a flood of apparently arbitrary images, we have organised our selection into themes, and then split these up again into subthemes. We are fully aware that our choice of themes for the arrangement of the selected posters could have been quite different and, furthermore, that our classification of the (presumed) statements of the posters might not always be entirely impartial. In addition, many of the posters could equally well be included under some of our other headings. There is, therefore, some degree of interpretative anticipation in our selection and arrangement, but this should in no way detract from the basic reference character of the book. The catalogue is divided into eight thematic complexes, each of which, as shown in the table of contents, is further split into subsections. For each thematic chapter we provide a short introductory text which first sketches out the historical context and then discusses the selection and organisation of the illustrated posters. The eight chapters occur in the following order: "liberation movements and exile", "solidarity and anti-apartheid", "elections", "nation building", "awareness and health", "economy", "knowledge, information, belief", "leisure and pleasure". Originals of nearly all of the posters illustrated in this catalogue are in the BAB collection. In a few cases, we have only photographic reproductions, and the originals are either in other collections or in private hands. These are indicated in the bibliographic data with the remark: 'copy; original kept by ...'. Every poster illustrated here was photographed with 100 ASA 24/36 slide film and flashlight. Each slide was used to produce a scan of about 2-7 MB. Printing was done with a 60-point raster. The reproductions in this book are never absolutely identical in size or colour to the originals. While we indicate the original size of the posters, and the dimensional proportions are retained in the reproductions, no details are given about discrepancies in colour hues and intensities. These factors should be borne in mind when employing and interpreting the posters as historical sources.  [...]

This is an excerpt from the book: African posters. A catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, by Giorgio Miescher und Dag Henrichsen.

Title: African posters
Subtitel: A catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika
Authors: Giorgio Miescher; Dag Henrichsen
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Basel, 2004
ISBN 9783905141825 / ISBN 978-3-905141-82-5
Hardcover, 24x30 cm, 301 pages, countless colour and bw photos