Beschreibung:

TOMI UNGERER (1931- ) EAT. 1967. 27x21 inches. Condition A-: minor tears and creases in margins. Paper. Born in Strasbourg, Ungerer emigrated to America in 1956, living for 13 years in New York before moving to Canada and then Ireland. This giant of graphic design has explored almost every venue open to graphic designers: posters, both satirical and commercial (Air India, New York Times); numerous illustrated books for adults and children; magazine illustration; objects and sculpture. There seems to be no limit to his imagination or creative styles; he could switch from the most gentle image for children to the most violently satirical style. During his time in the U.S. his radical politics saw him as an activist for many human rights issues, including racism (see Swann Modernist Poster Catalogue 1897 lot 109) and the war in Vietnam (ibid, lot 110). Many of his strongest posters were widely distributed by the Unicorn Press, a company he founded with his friend Richard Kosak, and they had a strong and important impact on the public (so much so that he had to leave for Canada in 1971). This image, as with his others, reads by itself and yet also holds a powerful subliminal message. Speaking to the carnage of the wars in South East Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea), Ungerer depicts one of the strongest American icons (the Statue of Liberty) being jammed down the throat of a yellow-faced man. The image of the man with his head thrown back is reminiscent of figures in Picasso's monumental protest painting Guernica . Images of an Era no. 70, Tomi Ungerer no. 23, p. 24, Ungerer / Strasbourg no. 138, p. 176.