Category:
1970s

Art—People—Feelings

The heyday of the "Let's all groove together" utopianism.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 06, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, PSA’s, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s

Nixon drinks Gevalia coffee

Aug 1971: Posters appeared around Stockholm showing U.S. President Richard Nixon drinking a cup of coffee. They appeared to be ads for Gevalia coffee — though it seemed odd that Nixon would do an ad for Gevalia.

image source: moderna museet
According to Google Translate, "Gevalia dricks mest" means "Gevalia is drunk the most"



It turned out that the posters were the work of artist Kjartan Slettemark. He had combined an image of a hand holding a coffee cup, taken from an actual Gevalia ad, with a photo of Nixon distributed by the U.S. embassy. The posters were apparently a satirical commentary on the recent acquisition of Gevalia by an American company.

Indianapolis Star - Aug 6, 1971



The auction house Bukowskis offers some more details about Slettemark's hoax:

In 1971, Kjartan Slettemark came across a campaign poster featuring Nixon's portrait, innocently sent out by the American embassy. It hung on the studio wall for a few weeks when one day he asked for an advertisement poster for Gevalia coffee that he had seen at his local shop. The advertisement image showed a smiling woman lifting a coffee cup. When he cut out the woman's hand and placed it on the Nixon image, the size, colour, and lighting matched perfectly. He immediately wanted to print the work as a poster but could not afford the printing himself. He added the text "Moderna Museet - Open every day 12 - 22" and submitted it for printing at the press used by Moderna Museet. The poster was printed, and the bill was sent to Moderna Museet. The next morning, Stockholm's advertising pillars were filled with Nixon posters. Moderna Museet reacted and wrote a letter to the artist prohibiting him from selling or distributing the image. Despite this, the image continued to appear around the city. Kjartan Slettemark continued to work with the image, cutting away the museum's text and making it even more similar to Gevalia's campaign image. The fake Gevalia poster was political art. A protest against the US war in Vietnam and against American imperialism. In 1971, the Gävle company Gevalia had been acquired by the multinational corporation General Foods – thus finding itself on the enemy's side. The story continues as the advertising text is cut away and gradually develops into the collage series "Nixon Visions," where the president's face is distorted in various ways.

Three years later, Slettemark returned to Nixon as a subject. Slettemark applied for a new passport, but instead of submitting a picture of himself he used an altered picture of Nixon. The passport authorities accepted it. Images and text below from Cabinet magazine (Spring 2009):



Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 02, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Politics, Coffee and other Legal Stimulants, 1970s

The Peanut Butter Painting

Inspired by peanut farmer Jimmy Carter becoming President, in 1977 Owensboro artist C.G. "Moose" Morehead used peanut butter to paint a picture of a barn — mixing the peanut butter (Jif) with oil colors. Morehead called it the "Peanut Butter Painting."

It's believed that this was the first time peanut butter was used as the medium for a painting. Jimmy Carter later signed the painting. And due to the interest in the painting, 2000 limited-edition prints were made of it, some of which can now be found on eBay. Though the prints obviously contain no peanut butter.

The Peanut Butter Painting





Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer - Feb 24, 1977

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 23, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, 1970s

Miss New York Experience

This 1975 photo from JET magazine might represent a one-off title, because I can find no photos of other winners.

Arguably, to represent the true experience of NYC circa 1975, this charming young woman should have featured a much different, ah, seedier look.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 17, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Urban Life, 1970s

Fresh Out of Borstal










Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 10, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Music, Prisons, 1970s, United Kingdom

The Ghost Parking Lot of Hamden, Connecticut

The "Ghost Parking Lot" was the 1978 creation of artist/architect James Wines. It consisted of twenty cars, placed in a mall parking lot, then buried to varying degrees, and finally covered with tarmac.

image source: sitenewyork.com



Torrance Daily Breeze - June 1, 1978



Wines explained: "this fusion of typically mobile artifacts with their environment takes advantage of people’s subliminal connections with the rituals of shopping center merchandising and the fetishism of American car culture."

But over the years the tarmac peeled off the cars and no repairs were made. So in 2003 the city decided to remove the cars. They were replaced by a Starbucks drive-thru. Wines commented, "If (the sculpture) was in a museum, it would've been preserved."

More info: sitenewyork.com

Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 08, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, 1970s, Cars

Practising yoga in Hyde Park, London

Photograph by Patrick Ward from Wish You Were Here: The English at Play. Gordon Fraser (publisher), 1977.

You can check out Ward's book of photograhs at archive.org, although the metadata incorrectly lists it as "Once a year: some traditional British customs." (which is the book I was looking for, though I enjoyed Ward's photographs also).

Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 05, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Photography and Photographers, 1970s

Slammed door, house fell down #2

Four years ago we posted about the case of Mary Adams of Stockport, England, who slammed her front door shut, causing the house to fall down.

The exact same thing happened to Claudine Rossi of Caderousse, France in 1971. She left her house to go shopping, slammed the front door shut, and the whole building fell down.

If I can find one more example of this phenomenon, I'll classify it as 'no longer weird'.

Daily Mirror - Oct 23, 1971

Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 04, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, 1970s

Asparagus, by Suzan Pitt

Let us know when you bail!



The creator's Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 02, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Surrealism, Cartoons, Stop-motion Animation, 1970s

Dis-Gorilla



Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 26, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Fads, Fey, Twee, Whimsical, Naive and Sadsack, Music, 1970s

Page 2 of 103 pages  < 1 2 3 4 >  Last ›




weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
December 2024 •  November 2024 •  October 2024 •  September 2024 •  August 2024 •  July 2024 •  June 2024 •  May 2024 •  April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •