Programme de la premiere manifestation de Libre Expression.

Paris.: J.-J. Lebel., 1964. Poster printed in black on green stock.. (59.5 x 40.5 cm).. Unpublished poster for the Festival de Libre Expression (Festival for Free Expression), the first of such festivals organised by Jean-Jacques Lebel between 1964 and 1967. Lebel quickly became infamous for his festivals of erotic happenings advocating free sexuality as a means to liberate experience - a philosophical position he had learned, in part, from Dada and surrealist mentors and friends like Breton and Picabia. Lebel’s festivals epitomised the alternative perspective that characterised the 1960s, and they were a key source of that decade’s radical identity. They acted as an international forum for artists, poets, musicians, and filmmakers, combining the art of Carolee Schneemann, Ben Vautier, Bazon Brock, Tetsumi Kudo and George Brecht, with jazz musicians such as Johnny Griffin and Art Taylor. The first of these festivals ran from the 25th to the 30 May 1964. This is the original printed maquette for the proposed festival poster, designed by Ben Vautier. The poster was never actually realised. Inscribed by Lebel in pen along the lower edge if the sheet: “Affiche imprimée a Nice par Ben en 1964 et jamais utilisée parce que incomplete, pour Marcel, J.J. Lebel”.