Communist Posters

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On the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ginsberg has edited a comprehensive presentation of the often vivid propaganda that, for the eyes of hundreds of millions in a pre-social media age, celebrated and condemned the likes of Castro, Mao, Lenin, Stalin, and the apparatchiks who tried to implement their theories and schemes. . . . Over 330 illustrations demonstrate the range and the scope beyond the U.S.S.R. and the P.R.C., with chapters on Korea, Mongolia, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and Cuba put in context with scholarly essays that cross-reference recurring themes." Ha Qiongwen, “Long Live Chairman Mao” (People’s Republic of China, 1959) (courtesy University of Chicago Press)

Communist Posters for Sale - Fine Art America

They also shunned conventional layouts and hierarchy by integrating type and graphics rather than viewing them as separate elements. It may have been partly because fonts weren't available, so every letter was hand-drawn. Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between. The artists used their work to convey their disdain for the Soviet regime and against the use of violence but did so with humour and charm, and always subtly enough to get past the censors. When paired with an educational system that would indoctrinate and form a “new-man” to embody the Soviet cause, it seemed that the Soviet propaganda machine--and by extension, the Soviets--was unstoppable.And while we’ve all seen our share of wartime propaganda, we may be less familiar with the decades-long propaganda war the U.S. and Western Europe waged against socialism and Communism, even decades before the Cold War era. It may surprise you to learn that this offensive began even before the start of World War One, as you can see above in a British Conservative Party poster from 1909.

Red alert: Collecting Soviet propaganda posters - BBC Worklife Red alert: Collecting Soviet propaganda posters - BBC Worklife

It didn’t stop at posters. All facets of media were used as political tools to install kitschy hope and pride into societal bloodstreams. As the perceived threat increased, so too did the scale of the monstrous caricatures. In the post-WWI era German and Norwegian posters above, Godzilla-sized Communists lay waste to entire cities. Below, in “Bolshevism Unmasked,” an example from the Second World War, the skeletal Communist destroyer straddles the entire globe.

There are some hungry, aggressive poster collectors and you're speaking to one of them,” joked Dr Sergo Grigorian, a Russian collector based in London who has over 2000 political Soviet posters. As soon as we started to research the history behind the posters, we realised we'd stumbled across something incredible. Incredibly, there were no other art dealers in the UK telling this story. Why did you want to bring this project to life?