As Europe prepares to mark the centenary of the start of World War I, the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in the Czech capital, Prague, is hosting an exhibition of political propaganda from the first modern war until today. The exhibit, titled "The Poster in the Clash of Ideologies 1914-2014," tracks poster art and its political messages from the world wars through the Cold War, the "war on terror," and the social and economic crises of recent years. (Photos courtesy of Ne boltai! Collection, Moravian Gallery in Brno, Interference Archive, authors and DOX Centre for Contemporary Art.)
Political Posters Map 100 Years Of Clashing Ideologies
1
A U.S. Marine Corps recruitment poster from 1917
2
"Loan for Freedom," 1917
3
A capitalist, a priest, and a kulak, or wealthy farmer, pull the carriage of White Army commander Aleksandr Kolchak in this 1919 poster.
4
"Strike Down Bolshevism," 1919
5
"The Bourgeois-Democratic Party," 1919
6
A 1921 poster, reading "Help," illustrates the impact of the famine in Russia.
7
"By the end of the five-year plan, collectivization in the U.S.S.R. should be principally finished." 1932
8
A 1932 advertisement for the Czechoslovak Aero car
9
"Fascism: The Concentration Camp of Nations," 1941
10
An untitled poster from 1945
11
A Czechoslovak poster from the early 1950s reads: "The U.S.S.R. turns deserts into blossoming land. The U.S.A. turns cities and villages into deserts."
12
"The Motherland is Proud of Her Brave Sons," 1962
13
A 1987 poster by the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power demands that U.S. President Ronald Reagan address the AIDS epidemic.
14
A 2011 poster for the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality
15
"An Idea Cannot Be Destroyed," 2011