Episode 03: Rural Electrification, Hope for Obama and Posters for Good
We went so “red, white and blue” in our 1976 episode that we just had to keep the train rolling with two amazing poster designs. We examine bringing electricity to rural parts of the United States 80 years later and inspiring a nation to rally behind an unknown presidential candidate named Barack Obama, along with how Lester Beall and Shepard Fairey made these big ideas easy to understand. And since Todd loves controversy, he shares the story of how Mr. Fairey found himself in a legal entanglement over his poster work.
E X T R A S :
Rural Electrification Administration Poster
Lester Beall MoMA Exhibit
Library of Congress Entry
Lester Beall Biography (Wikipedia entry)
Lester Beall Biography (AIGA article)
Obama “Hope” Poster
“Hope” Poster Article (Wikipedia)
Associated Press Lawsuit Article
National Portrait Gallery Entry (with credits)
“After ‘Hope,’ and Lawsuit, Shepard Fairey Tries Damage Control” (NY Times article)
Posters That Changed the World (The Guardian article)