The Fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the most important historical events of the last century, illustrated and narrated using the unique cartoon figures named “The Conical People” by Greek graphic designer and illustrator Michael Antonopoulos. Portions of this work will illustrate the issue in his book: The History of German Comics School.
The illustration shows the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, where thousands of East Germans crossed on foot or their cars (one of them the … «legendary» Trabant, see. top-right of the illustration) the restricted area of the Wall and the Bornholmer Street, coming out in the French sector of West Berlin.
The illustration was designed in Adobe Illustrator with amazing detail in the artwork but also in the historic moments of the time being. Amongst others you can even see the broken glass that were on top of the Wall. Below you can see the linear (Artwork) and details to get a better picture of the project which took three years to complete.
The design is printed on special paper and placed in front holographic security film (5×5 cm.), it’s stamped with a handwritten signature of the artist. Before the appropriate print quality was chosen, Michael Antonopoulos printed it with five different printers to select the best printing due to the complexity of the image.
1. Poster Price: 90€ (postage and packing: 20,00€ for International Shipping, 14,00€ for Europe)
2. Framed with high quality wooden frame tricolor (the colors of the German flag) and glass mat. Price: 180 euros (including postage and packing)
(Framed currently available only in Athens).
Dimensions: 50x70cm
Design by: Michael Antonopoulos (2013-2016)
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Michael Antonopoulos is a Greek graphic designer and illustrator that has been awarded several times for his illustrations. The Conical People designed by Michael, appeared for the first time in 2012 and since then, they have conquered the audience with their simplicity, humor and sweet personalities. Michael Antonopoulos is using them often to narrate stories of the everyday life of his own country but also of moments of his own life (these comic stories are available only in Greek).
Poster Detail 1
November 9, 1989
The Fall of the Wall
Berlin
28 years after the erection of the Berlin Wall, on the evening of November 9, 1989, thousands of East Germans crossed on foot or their cars (one of them the … «legendary» Trabant, see. Top right) the restricted area of the wall and the Bornholmer street, coming out of the French sector of West Berlin. Shortly afterwards they began to pull down various parts of the wall with pickaxes, sledgehammers and whatever heavy tool everyone was holding. The reception from the opposite side was very warm and pubs was treating all night. More than 3.5 million Germans were gathered from both sides that night!
• At the top of the outpost, left in the drawing within a box, the designer immortalizes the border guard Conrad Schumann who defected to West Germany, leaping over the barbed wire (08/15/1965). The escape photographed by a professional photographer who were there by chance and the photo, named ‘The Leap to Freedom “, is considered to be the most famous one of the Wall history. As expected, Conrad Schumann was a “hero” for Westerners and “traitor” to the East. He committed suicide in 1998.
Poster detail 2
Casualties
During the Soviet occupation (1949-1989), East German citizens tried to cross the Wall. Some of them have made it, some did not, executed or injured by the Democratic Border Guard. 86 people were killed on the spot. Along with those who were injured and died later, we have a total of 238 victims. To those who died included two Greeks and two children 10 and 13 years old who received 40 (!) Shots. The last one that died trying to cross the Wall was Chris Gueffroy, on February 6, 1989.
Erich Honecker was sentenced among others as responsible for these deaths and imprisoned for the second time in his life by Germans … He was released when he was diagnosed with an incurable disease. He died a year later, in 1994, in Chile.
Poster detail 3
PGH Burning Future
Among the thousands of East Germans who passed across, just four of them, a woman and three men, were enough to upgrade again the German Comic into a School! …
• At the right side of the poster there are also two kids playing ball.
The reason for Michael Antonopoulos choice to put children playing carefree in the chaos was one -before years- discussion with his grandmother Amalia. She told him that when she was a child, the years were different from nowadays, nice and innocent. “But you were a child in the war”, Michael said. “How could they be fine”? Then she realized that she was “innocent and good” just because she was a child.
The Printed Poster
