May 19, 2022 - Sale 2605

Sale 2605 - Lot 241

Unsold
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500

MILTON GLASER (1929-2020)

NO VIETNAMESE EVER CALLED ME NIGGER. 1968.


34 3/4x21 1/2 inches, 88 1/4x54 1/2 cm.
Condition B+: tears, creases and abrasions along sharp vertical and horizontal folds. Double-sided. Paper.

A striking poster created to promote David Loeb Weiss' film No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger, which won the award for Best Documentary at the Mannheim Film Festival in 1968. The title refers to a quote often misattributed to Muhammad Ali. It was a popular rallying cry during anti-Vietnam War demonstrations at the time, and can be seen in the film on the placards carried by protesters in the 1967 Harlem Fall Mobilization March. This event was the racially and politically-charged focus of the documentary, composed of footage of the march itself interspersed with interviews from protesters and Black Vietnam veterans. The result was a shockingly frank firsthand report, which a review in Open City called "the strongest statement yet from the Black community . . . a startling cry of rage and despair . . . As a study on why there is rebellion in the streets of Black America it is more succinct and illuminating than any government report can ever be." Glaser p. 95.