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POSTER EXHIBITION: Art is a Weapon: Revolutionary and Antifascist Posters from Spain 1936-39
Poster exhibition runs April 15 to June 20, 2026.
Gongfu Bao Restaurant, 365 Bank Street
Free entry
Organized by the Education for Liberation Collective
In 1930s Spain, artists, organizers, unions, and leftist political parties produced thousands of stunning posters promoting revolutionary social change and opposing fascism. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began when fascists organized a coup to overthrow Spain’s democratically-elected leftist Popular Front government, composed of a coalition of socialists, anarchists, communists, workers’ organizations and social movements. From 1936-38, thousands of international volunteers, including at least 1500 Canadians, went to Spain to join the Popular Front in the fight against fascism. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy enthusiastically supported the coup, and the fascists ultimately won, installing a dictatorship that would last until the late 1970s.
Art is a Weapon: Revolutionary and Antifascist Posters from Spain 1936-39 presents reproductions of more than 25 striking posters that teach us the history of revolutionary Spain and the Spanish Civil War. But these posters are more than just artefacts of the past. They illuminate a history that extends into the present moment and to struggles we continue to fight today, from opposing fascism, fighting for gender liberation, defending children’s genuine health and well-being, and defending the dignity and well-being of working people to fighting for environmental sustainability, for public education and art, and supporting international solidarity.
The exhibition also includes reproductions of artefacts from the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, the Canadian contingent of the International Brigades that fought against fascism in Spain.
Curated by Claire Nicolson-Hurtig (@encrenoire.illustration, Posters for Palestine 2024 exhibition, member of Education for Liberation Collective)
Posters are reproduced from the collections of the Fundacion Pablo Iglesias (Madrid, Spain), the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections of Brandeis University (USA), and the Centre de Recursos per Aprenentatge i la Investigació at the University of Barcelona (Spain).