All Power Thru Jesus
Hollywood: Hollywood Free Paper, ca. early-1970s. Silkscreen. 17 1/2 x 23 in. Very good with creasing at top left corner; <1/2 in. tear at bottom right edge. Item #5433
San Francisco in the 1960s is most frequently associated with the hippie movement and the so-called "Summer of Love." A lesser known spiritual movement sprouted alongside it: a loose network of Evangelical groups eventually referred to as Jesus people or Jesus freaks (a term which, at the time, was not seen as pejorative). Although the movement first gained traction in San Francisco, particularly Haight-Ashbury, its nucleus quickly became Los Angeles. Leaders such as Arthur Blessitt and Tony and Susan Alamo set up shop on Sunset Strip, preaching on the street and opening coffee shops where converts congregated. As the posters in this list evidence, the movement embraced the prevailing countercultural aesthetics of the time. Music festivals, underground newspapers, and merchandise such as pins, posters, and t-shirts were all used to recruit, cohere, and build the movement. The movement spread to northern Europe, where it remains active in Germany.
A small cross perched alongside the “One Way” sign—a hand with an extended forefinger—served as a logo for the movement. Here, the symbol emerges from an American flag, with red and blue text which reads “All Power Thru Jesus.” Example of how new left vocabulary had become part of the general countercultural lexicon of the time.
Sold