Communist Posters

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This blog is inspired by a recent donation of Russian Revolution posters by Bill Broadbent to St Edmund Hall. 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.

Russian Revolution: Ten propaganda posters from 1917 - BBC News Russian Revolution: Ten propaganda posters from 1917 - BBC News

Wikimedia Commons During the Cold War, it was common to see Polish people waiting in long lines outside of state-run grocery stores. Relatively inexpensive, compared with Soviet-era paintings, for example, older examples from the 1920s and 1930s can be found in poster shops around the world. Take note: it is easy for both professional collectors and hobbyists to get burned. 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. Beautifully arrayed, the posters in this collection offer a comprehensive look at the broad range of visual works that have both expressed and fueled one of the most powerful political ideas of the modern era.

Why was this style not seen anywhere else?

It didn’t stop at posters. All facets of media were used as political tools to install kitschy hope and pride into societal bloodstreams.

Russian Revolutionary Posters | St Edmund Hall Russian Revolutionary Posters | St Edmund Hall

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. 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.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. We chatted to Harriet about just what's so special about their vintage Polish posters and how she and Sylwia began this unique project. What's so special about these vintage posters?