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The French design collective known as Grapus was founded in 1970 by Pierre Bernard, Gérard Paris-Clavel, and François Miehe following the student protests of 1968 in Paris. Their goal was to create striking images for the French Communist Party (PCF), that, in Bernard’s words, combined “political and graphic commitment.” The group initially rejected commercial clients, instead working with the PCF as well as experimental theater groups, progressive town councils, and other social and cultural institutions. Poster designs with playful textual elements, extensive symbolic vocabulary, and handwritten text typified the Grapus style, along with a technique known as “détournement,” diversion of a message through acts of visual vandalism. From 1978 on, Grapus showed its work in major exhibitions at the Musée de l'Affiche in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Aspen Conference in Aspen, Colorado, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal. Grapus received the French Grand Prix National des Arts Graphiques in 1990 and dissolved shortly thereafter. For all the Grapus posters in the collection, click here.
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