« La Police vous parle tous les soirs à 20 h »

The most famous of these posters were produced at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Assembled from makeshift materials, the silkscreen workshop began operating on 15 May and went on to produce several hundred posters. Themes and slogans were debated during heated assemblies bringing together students and artists within the École des Beaux-Arts itself, whose students continued to issue calls to resistance. On 27 June, the school was cleared out by police forces.

These posters are among the most famous of the period and illustrate the ORTF’s monopoly and the state’s control of broadcasting, despite the emergence of peripheral radio stations. “The ORTF monopoly meant that the transmitters of these stations were located abroad, with the exception of Radio Monte-Carlo, 80% of whose capital was owned by the State. […] When journalists gave live coverage of a street movement, this very quickly drew crowds to the scene, and a small demonstration could rapidly become enormous. This is why the authorities called Europe n° 1 “Radio Émeute” (Riot Radio). In order to cover events live, the radio stations needed short-wave frequencies, which were very quickly confiscated on the official pretext that the police needed them for communication between their vehicles. Journalists were reduced to going into people’s homes and borrowing their telephones in order to broadcast live regardless.”

Nevertheless, some ORTF journalists went on strike; more than a hundred of them were dismissed at the end of the conflict.

Excellent condition and very good inking, but without a stamp.