Contact:	Kim Brockway					For immediate release
		(212) 854-2419
		kkb18@columbia.edu



Posters from the Spanish Civil War on Exhibition
At Columbia's Wallach Art Gallery


On view Feb. 4 - Mar. 28, 1998; free gallery talk by curator, Feb. 19



	The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) has been seen as a symbol of the global 
struggles during the 1930s and as a rehearsal for the apocalyptic scenes of World 
War II.  The beginning of the Spanish Civil War caused a worldwide reaction of 
anti-fascist opinion, and for many saving the Spanish Republic from the fascist- 
inspired forces became the cause of the century.  Thousands of volunteers from 
across Europe and America -- including figures as disparate as Marshal Tito, 
W.H. Auden and Ernest Hemingway -- were compelled to go to Spain, where 
many would die in the conviction that this was not a local war but one stage in the 
battle for a better society. Propaganda posters are among the most poignant 
documents that remain from the Spanish Civil War.  An essential part of the 
visual landscape in which individuals living the tragedy of the war went about 
their daily business of survival, the posters were a constant reminder that a new 
reality had arrived.
	The Visual Front: Spanish Civil War Posters, from the Southworth 
Collection at the University of California San Diego, offers a reminder of this 
devastating and ideologically galvanizing conflict.  The exhibition will be on view 
February 4 - March 28, 1998, at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at 
Columbia University (Broadway and 116th Street), Schermerhorn Hall, 8th floor.  
Viewing hours are Wednesday - Saturday, 1-5 p.m.; admission is free.  For more 
information, the public may call (212) 854-2877.
	The exhibition's curator, Alexander Vergara, visiting assistant professor of 
art history at Columbia, has selected more than forty posters that graphically 
denounce the fascist-inspired military revolt and exhort the populace to support 
the Republic and to unite for the cause. The artists represented in the exhibition -- 
while acknowledging the influence of the Russian political illustrators Deni and 
Moor; the famed French poster artists Cassandre, Colin, and Carlu; and 
photomontage artists such as John Heartfield -- use a variety of heroic styles of 
illustration.  The wide range of powerful designs with simple lettering -- printed 
in highly-contrasting red, orange, blue, green, and black -- convey a passionate, 
optimistic message, which, though necessary to maintain the active support of 
the populace, must surely have been countered by the cursing reality of the war.
	Also on view are a selection of books, newspapers, and journals which 
contextualize the posters and illustrate how integral the posters were to the 
overall propaganda campaign during the war.  The posters and supplementary 
materials are on loan from the Southworth Collection at the University of 
California, San Diego.  The collection was initiated by Herbert Rutledge 
Southworth, an American journalist closely associated with the Republican 
government in Spain, who began collecting systematically during the war.  Much 
of the material in the Southworth Collection is not available elsewhere in the U.S. 
and has therefore become a prime resource for students and scholars of the 
Spanish Civil War.
	At the Wallach Art Gallery, supplemental programming will include an 
exhibition of drawings made by Spanish children living in refugee camps during 
the war, from the collections of the Avery Architectural and Fine Art Library at 
Columbia; film screenings, and public tours.  The exhibition's curator will 
present a free gallery talk on February 19 at 6 p.m.

Editors:  Photographs are available for publication.  Call (212) 854-2419.

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