Catalogue Number
NMLH.2021.150.1
Object Name
Poster
People
Ken Sprague
Events
Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia; Soviet Union
Date
1968
Description
A preface to a collection of anti-military prints created by cartoonist Ken Sprague in 1968. The text is cursive and written in black ink. A small drawing of a cannon is printed at the top. Text reads: "These prints will inevitably be called Anti-Soviet- / they are not - they are Anti-Tank - against those men / who all too quickly rush in to solve the problems of our / Nuclear world by military action. / There's a print about Big Brotherism and one about the / heroism of youth. Another on the end of an era and a rise / of protest symbolised by the clenched fist of the Spanish / Civil War and the demonstrations of the 30's. / One of a ghastly womb that gives birth to a tank - to give / birth to a tank... / There's one that says discussion is best when conducted between / equals and another about those blinkered enthusiasts who / see only the glorious young soldier (in traditional War / Memorial pose) but do not see the tank or the monstrous / process
of soldiering! / For people who find only references to Czechoslovakia in / these pictures theres the three teardrops who conveniently / forgetting Munich and the more recent armed adventures / of their own governments, see only in one direction. / These silk screen prints are, admittedly, simplified / statements about complex policies. But somewhere in / that complexity lies truth. It might help us locate / it if we began by putting military ideas in the dustbin! / Ken Sprague. September 1968."
