Jean-François Bizot (1944–2007)

Taking its collective name from the wartime "underground press" of Europe's anti-Nazi resistance, the publications examined here were all members of the Underground Press Syndicate (later renamed the Alternative Press Syndicate), founded in 1967 so that member papers could freely share and reprint material. This utopian model resulted in an explosion of alternative publications worldwide as every small start-up had access to the work of soon-to-be famous writers, journalists, artists, and show more graphic designers. Among the notable figures whose work has appeared in these pages are Hunter S. Thompson, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Ken Kesey, R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman—to name only a few. The underground press documented everything from politics and art to film and fashion. Among the publications featured here are The Los Angeles Free Press (persecuted by the Nixon-era FBI for its antiwar views), The East Village Other (the first to adopt a psychedelic layout), Interview (founded by Andy Warhol and the first to feature homoerotic imagery), The Chicago Seed, Oracle, and The Berkeley Barb (famous for one cover showing a young man with a chain around his mind). The ideas unleashed in these now vintage publications continue to reverberate through society and influence public discourse and graphic design in the form of today's 'zines and online blogs
Jean-Francois Bizot's book "Free Press: Underground and Alternative Publications, 1965-1975" is a gorgeous history of the paleozines, the underground newspapers spawned by 1960s subculture. The book is huge, so that many of the tabloid pages it reproduces can be shown at full size (as with the full-size reproductions of the Little Nemo strips, it rapidly becomes clear that if you haven't seen these at full-size, you haven't seen them at all).
The book groups its coverage thematically, starting with freak-out lifestyle papers, then militant publications, black power, the birth of the green movement and the proto-punk era. Most of the pages are given over to images, raw pasteups from the pre-desktop-publishing era, but the text really shines, vigorous and angry or funny or sexy, an unfiltered scream. show less

Celabrates the 60s and 70s heyday of alternative magazine publishing in Europe and America, reproducing images from magazines both seminal and obscure whose influence reverberates through culture. politics and society. This work is intended for retro graphics fans and for those interested in '60s counterculture. Contents: We are the future!: the free press is everywherep. Freak out !: first slogan of the free press. Power to the people!: the free press gets militant. Down with male show more domination!: the free press. the women's movement and gay liberation. Black power!: the free press fights for equal rights. Protect the planet!: the free press supports green politics. Blank generation. show less

Mostly scans of the pubs with a chronology.

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Bizot-Un-moment-de-faiblesse/410499

> UN MOMENT DE FAIBLESSE, de Jean-François Bizot - Éd. Albin Michel, 339 pages. — Estomaquant, fascinant, envoûtant, survolté, enragé, habité... et assurément inattendu, même pour ceux qui le connaissent d’assez près, Jean-François Bizot nous a offert ce printemps une littérature comme on aimerait en lire beaucoup plus souvent. Même si la tranche de vie à laquelle cette littérature vous donne show more droit d’accès direct - jusque dans les profondeurs d’une intimité charnelle et affective totale - est un monumental coup de poing dans le ventre. Une rafale de coups de poing ! Martelé avec le souffle d’un champion de boxe poids lourds qui serait en même temps un marathonien abyssin. Mais des coups servis avec tellement de drôlerie et de tendresse, oui de tendresse, qu’on en reste un long moment cakes, suffoqué, à se demander ce qui s’est passé. Pourtant, faites un sondage autour de vous, la tendresse n’est le souvenir premier qu’a laissé dans les mémoires la grande aventure d’Actuel ou qu’inspire sa suite, Nova mag and Co. Le coup de poing et l’humour, ça d’accord - l’insolence rieuse irrécupérable, le coup d’œil impitoyable, et la curiosité exploratoire - bien sûr, ça a marqué. Mais peut-être ne saviez-vous pas ce qui se cachait derrière les façades multicolores et les diagonales insolentes de strass de l’un des plus grands créatifs de la presse et de la culture française contemporaine ? Peut-être aura-t-il fallu qu’il se trouve confronté à la plus sombre des murailles pour que s’ouvre en direct certaines fleurs - la pudeur n’est pas si courante de nos jours. Un livre sur “comment j’ai affronté mon cancer”, on se dit qu’on a déjà vu ça. Mais comme ici, jamais.
Si je peux vous conseiller un livre... y a pas photo. (Patrice van EERSEL)
—Nouvelles Clés, (38), Été 2003, (p. 64) show less