UNTITLED DECOLLAGE/POSTER (GUERRE). 1961. WITH HAND APPLIED POSTER DECOLLAGE.

Paris: Galerie Le Soleil, 1961
84 x 66cm black on brown exhibition poster (silkscreened) which has been specially prepared by Vostell by sticking part of another poster over it in order to leave the single word “Guerre” (war) on top of his poster over his own name. Nineteen sixty-one was the most intense year of the conflict between France and Algeria and despite the escalation in the hostilities the government banned any reference to it as a “war”. Artist protest was also at a height and it is likely that Vostell’s action here was an act of clever protest against the censorship and the war.
The image is overprinted with the text:”Galerie Le Soleil dans la tete 10 rue de Vaugirard Paris 6e Metro Odeon / Wolf Vostell Collages et collages du 3-12 fevrier 1961. Vernissage le vendredi 3 fevrier a 20H30. Projection des typogrammes polychromes avec l’audition du cryrhythme de Francois Dufrene.” Dufrene exhibited works and recited poetry at the exhibition – at this time the two artists were closely allied. Folded and with one closed tear against a fold but otherwise very good. An early document from Vostell.