Communist Posters

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All of these postures bear the traces of their historical moment, reflecting, sometimes vibrantly, sometimes starkly, a drive to seize meaning as an essential aspect of political culture. Their addition to the art collections of St Edmund Hall is an important donation to the teaching materials of a college with a strong interest in the history, politics, culture, and art of Russia and the USSR. Russian and international collectors are enthralled by the history, subject matter and extraordinary graphic imagery of posters produced from 1917 to 1991. Prices have increased considerably since the Soviet Union broke up. Chisholm Larsson's founder, Robert Chisholm, says that posters bought in 1991 are probably worth three-times the amount today. In some cases they could be worth much more.

Posters Collection, 1919-1989 and undated / Digital Russian Posters Collection, 1919-1989 and undated / Digital

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. A global survey of the history and variety of Communist poster art, with each chapter written by an expert in the field." Join 45,000 creatives to enjoy a regular dose of inspiration and motivation, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. Dejneka worked as a photographer, designed propaganda trains, produced posters and took part in Soviet theater performances. He was heavily inspired by poet Mayakovsky. Both artists chose similar themes for their works that were inspired by the same thing – sincere faith in the revolution and Soviet power, as well as love for the proletariat. Dejneka created some of the most powerful images of fighters against fascism and thought of working on propaganda as his duty to society. Ha Qiongwen, “Long Live Chairman Mao” (People’s Republic of China, 1959) (courtesy University of Chicago Press)Unlike other collectibles like furniture, proper restoration can make sought-after posters gain value. “If you restore a poster — by having little flakes filled in, for example — the value can increase,” Lowry said.

10 MAIN propaganda artists of the USSR - Russia Beyond

Some Soviet graphic artists are particularly prized, such as Georgii and Vladimir Stenberg, Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky and Gustav Klutsis, partly because their vibrant, avant-garde designs have greatly influenced today’s western artists. Polish movie posters dwindled in production throughout the 1970s, and all but disappeared by the late 1980s. In 1989, film distribution was privatized, meaning that the once vibrant art form was dead. The Polish posters we collect are generally bold, joyful and colourful, but stylistically Polish posters were very diverse. There were also some very dark and surreal designs. What they share is a soulful quality that is impossible to replicate and genuine originality which still manages to surprise and delight us to this day. How did you get started? This collection of 20th-century Russian posters spans almost the entire history of the Soviet Union (1917-1991). It can be divided into three main series, each representing distinct eras in the history of Communist political advertising. The General Political Poster series features works from the earliest days of Soviet power and is especially strong for the late 1920s, a period that coincides with the "cultural revolution" of I. V. Stalin. The Twenty-Second Communist Party Congress series includes electioneering placards from the early 1960s that graphically illustrate N. S. Khrushchev's promise to catch up and overtake the capitalist West. The Perestroika Era series, which rounds out this collection, is an assemblage of posters from the late 1980s that offers a poignant reminder of the promises and perils of the period of "restructuring" (perestroika) and "openness" (glasnost) under M. S. Gorbachev.

But even though it's dead, it's certainly not forgotten. The Poster Museum in Poland houses over 50,000 vintage posters that guests can still enjoy today. Visitors can take a colorful walk down memory lane and experience some of the wildest movie posters ever created in the country. From images of Vladimir Lenin promising “Land to the peasants!” to those of Mao Zedong declaring the Cultural Revolution, communist regimes have relied on powerful—and often beautifully wrought—artwork to ensure the successes of their revolutions. Because of their ease of distribution, posters in particular have figured as central vehicles of propaganda in nearly every communist nation. In this book, Mary Ginsberg offers the first truly global survey of the history and variety of communist poster art. A new travelling exhibition organised by The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford explores the art made during the tumultuous decade, and includes propaganda posters, revolutionary landscapes, papercuts and household objects. Representing socialism as an ape-like demon strangling some sort of goddess of “prosperity,” this striking piece of poster art sets the tone for almost all of the anti-Communist propaganda to come in the wake of the Russian Revolution. At least since this early graphic salvo, Communists and socialists have generally been depicted as terrifying monsters. See, for example, an early, post-WWI example of Russian anti-Communist propaganda above, portraying the Communist threat as an apocalyptic horseman of death. Poland has a long history with posters. Starting in the 1890s, artists would produce colorful posters to promote art exhibitions, theater performances, and ballets. They mixed popular styles like Japanism, Jugendstil, Secessionist, and Cubism with traditional symbolism and Polish folklore. This often led to thought-provoking and unique designs.

Communist Propaganda Posters Relive The Cold War With These 25 Communist Propaganda Posters

Over the past few years, we have become friends with major gallery owners, collectors and poster experts in Poland, with who we work really closely. We're also meeting as many of the surviving artists as we can and the families of those who've sadly already died. What can you tell us about Projekt Mkt? It didn’t stop at posters. All facets of media were used as political tools to install kitschy hope and pride into societal bloodstreams. Leaving a comfortable job in graphic design to become a freelance illustrator, with Meredith SchomburgThe 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.