27¾x39½ inches, 70x100¼ cm. Condition A: minor creases at edges. Hand-signed, dated and annotated by the artist in red marker on verso. Screenprint. Paper.
In November, 1989, the events of the Velvet Revolution moved quickly in Czechoslovakia. The Obcanske Forum (Civic Forum Party) was founded on November 19th, 1989, in response to the violent suppression of student demonstrations two days earlier on November 17th. The party was formed to oppose the totalitarianism of one-party rule. It was, as Vaclav Havel stated, "an association open to all who wanted democracy in Czechoslovakia." The following week, more than 750,000 people came out to demonstrate in favor of the end of the Communist government, followed a few days later by a nationwide general strike. The events culminated at the end of December, when Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.
Pavel Stastny, a 1st-year student at VSUP - Academy of Applied Arts in Prague, designed the logo on November 25, 1989, just a week after the start of the Velvet Revolution. He was 24 years old. Stastny explains, "At the beginning of the Velvet Revolution, right after November 17, we closed our university and went on strike, just like most universities in Prague. We were in the school building all day and night. We designed and printed most of the materials for the demonstrations." On November 25, 1989, a week after its creation, the Civic Forum movement announced a competition for its logo among high school and university students. The deadline was tight, the proposals had to be submitted the same day by four o'clock in the afternoon. Stastny continues, "It was a strange, spontaneous selection process. Big challenge. We got to work right away. We were all taught to make these technical, serious logos. We drew them. And when it was already half past three, it was clear that no one would be able to come up with a ‘perfect' logo. So we started making fun of it. Someone drew something funny and everyone laughed. And this is how the now famous logo of the Civic Forum, the first Czech Smiley, was created at 3:45 p.m. As a joke. At four o'clock, a person from OF came and took away the designs. There was no tension between us as to who would win. It was a time when actually winning the competition wasn't even that important. We all just wanted political change at last. We had a common goal.
At two o'clock in the morning Stastny was awakened and told that he "won the OF logo, get up and go immediately to the headquarters in Mánes." The surprised student suddenly started collaborating with the people who led the Velvet Revolution. He then designed all the graphics for the Civic Forum for the next two years.
The logo is "a lighthearted design that captures the spirit of the time and place, it features the movement's Czech initials, O and F, with the lopsided O ringing a stylized smiling face drawn in a child-like hand. The colors are the national blue, white and red" (New York Times, December 12, 1989). Above all else, with its playfulness and patriotic color scheme, this simple image captured the essence of the era and remains an iconic memory of a powerful democratic movement. The image was almost immediately put into mass production, appearing everywhere.
Initially, before the design went mainstream, Stastny printed two images, the OF logo without text and the OF logo with the text Obcanské Fórum. They were printed in December 1989 in the underground printing house at the University of Applied Arts in Prague. He printed each in a run of 50, of which this image is one. Rare. We could locate no other copies at auction.
It is signed, dated and inscribed "Plakat OF / Originalni sitotisk / 1989" by the artist in red marker.
![PAVEL ŠTASTNÝ (1965- ). OBCANSKE FORUM / [CIVIC FORUM]. 1989. 27¾x39½ inches, 70x100¼ cm.](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//918\821918.jpg)
