Beauty is in the Street, A Visual Record of the May ’68 Paris Uprising

In May 1968, demonstrations against the French government spread across Parisian universities, and then to factories and other workplaces, resulting in a general strike of 11 million workers that brought the country to a virtual standstill.

Out of the demonstrations rose the Atelier Populaire, a student group who produced hundreds of posters that were used to encourage protestors and report on police brutality. Beauty Is In The Street reproduces over 200 of these works, whose dual nature as a means of communication and as a sort of ephemeral artwork have become landmarks in political art and graphic design.

Also included are a wealth of photographs, many published for the first time, and translations of first-hand accounts of the clashes between the students and strikers and the police.

Beauty Is In The Street was nominated for The Design Museum’s Designs Of The Year 2012.