Item #5435 Try Jesus. Hollywood Free Paper.

Try Jesus

Hollywood: Hollywood Free Paper, ca. early-1970s. Silkscreen. 17 1/2 x 23 in. Very good. Item #5435

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. On this poster, the symbol sits above the word “Jesus” in box letters, and images of young, smiling Jesus People flood the text and symbol. They hold signs reading “Try Jesus” and “One Way His Way,” free-floating One Way forefingers abound. The photographs are from Spiritual Revolution Day, a march and gathering held on February 13, 1971 which drew several thousand Jesus People.

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