TheArt of Persuasion

dorothy rowe

Art and Propaganda: the PoliticalImage in the Age of MassCulturetoby clark

The Everyman Art LibraryWeidenfeld and Nicolson £8.99 $18.95175 pp. 110 illusisbn 0-297-83614-5US Abramsisbn 0-8109-2713-6

The Power of the Posteredited by margaret timmers

Victoria & Albert Publications £30.00 $50.00252 pp. 247 illusisbn 1-85177-240-5

Social Realist Paintingmatthew cullerne bown

Yale University Press £60.00 $75.00512 pp. 184 col/346 mono illusisbn 0-300-06844-1

The exploration of the relationship between aes-thetics and politics is part of an establishedphilosophical tradition, epitomised by the cri-

tical theory debates of the Frankfurt School in the

1930s. However, the art-historical consolidation of thatrelationship is a more recent phenomenon, well repre-sented by the texts under review. All three offer thereader a different purchase on the powerful relation-ship between the visual and the verbal, between imageand message focussing on different visual media.

Toby Clark's Art and Propaganda is part of theexpanding range of titles in the Everyman Art Libraryseries which offers easily accessible and conciseintroductions to themes and issues in the history ofart. The book's introduction is an inevitably perfunc-tory survey of the history and use of both the wordpropaganda and the visual artists associated with itsproduction, followed by a more meaningful explora-tion of the ways in which propagandist art can signifyto different audiences, depending on the context of itsproduction. A main thread running throughout thetext is the relationship between fine art and massculture, a relationship that is often crucial both to thesuccessful signification and to the parodic decon-struction of many of the key images of twentieth-century propagandist art that Clark explores.

Chapter One introduces the reader to the com-plexities surrounding the construction of a realistaesthetic for the radical avant-garde working within thefirst few decades of this century. A reading of FernandLeÂger's The Mechanic (1920) compared with HenryWallis's The Stonebreaker (1857) reveals the shift inemphasis from the Victorian conception of a victimised

working class towards an idealised modern-ism in which the worker becomes the hero ofthe modern machine age. We see thebeginnings of the strained relations betweensocialist realism and avant-garde modern-ism which were to characterise the develop-ment of a politically committed realistaesthetic during the twentieth century.Through the examination of differentcultural media, from examples of Americanphotography to Brecht's self-consciouslypoliticised theatre, Clark explores the waysin which the `truthfulness' implied by arealist aesthetic can be shown to be contrivedand mediated for different political ends.The two most contested sites of politicalstruggle in Europe during the early years ofthis century, the class system and women'ssuffrage, are also explored through a densenetwork of visual symbols and culturalassociations. In addition, Rivera's History ofMexico mural (1929±1935), and Picasso'sGuernica (1937), are examined in terms oftheir role as icons of left-wing nationalidentity for Mexico and Spain respectively.

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AleksandrA Deineka,FemaleTextileWorkers, 1927.Russian Museum,St Petersburg

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Clark's final reading of Guernica as `an enduring symbolof resistance to fascism and war' leads him neatly on tohis subsequent chapters. These offer an outline of thepropagandist imagery employed by the Europeanfascist reÂgimes during the 1940s, particularly NaziGermany, and examine the role of cultural propagandato aid the rise of communism from the turn of thecentury until the 1950s, concentrating on the SovietUnion as the paradigm for the style of socialist realismthat was adopted. Finally, themes of war and com-memoration guide the reader from the First World Warthrough to the conflict in Vietnam and on to the presentday with an exploration of contemporary forms ofpoliticised image-making which address the prob-lematics of meaningful representation within a cynicaland media-saturated culture.

On the whole, Toby Clark has tackled an ambitioustopic with calm assurance, yet at times the aim of hisproject is not always met by the constraints of a bookwritten within this survey format. There is clearly avast amount of research material that Clark can onlytouch on, and occasionally one feels that he hasoverreached himself in his attempt to cover all theangles at the expense of the particular nuances of themany issues raised. While his book is certainly auseful overview of a complex and fascinating historyof modernist image-making, I remain unsure aboutits final appeal. The ambitious and complex nature ofthe subject, combined with the density with which it isconsidered within a modestly-sized paperback, doesnot quite do the author justice.

A more tightly structured approach to theconsideration of modern propagandist imagery canbe found in varying degrees in both of the other textsunder review. The catalogue for the Victoria and AlbertMuseum's Power of the Poster exhibition, edited bythe curator, Margaret Timmers, is a reminder of thethemes explored by the exhibition as well as a glossilyillustrated overview of some of the best examples ofmodern poster design held by the museum. Thecatalogue is divided into three distinct themes, Pleasureand Leisure, Protest and Propaganda and Commerce andCommunication. Through a series of specially commis-sioned essays, the three divisions offer a neat explora-tion of the different functions assigned to the posterthroughout the history of its invention. The functionof posters as visual interventions in the public spheremake them extremely germane for a study of thesymbiotic relationship between `art and propaganda'that has had particular resonance this century. DavidCrowley's contribution, for example, is an incisiveaccount of modernity and mass politics as expressedthrough the visual language of the modern propa-ganda poster. It affords the reader a concise overviewof the power of visual persuasion that benefits from itsconsideration of only one visual medium. JohnHegarty's conversational piece also foregrounds theenduringly manipulative tactics involved in commer-

cial poster advertising but here perhaps a critical edgeis lost. Commerce is celebrated and the posterremains its triumphant tool. The satirical agent ofpolitical reform that it is so clearly shown to be inmany other parts of this catalogue, is still also thecommercial agent of monetary exchange for today'scorporate culture. While the political poster clearlyhas a successful history as a powerful pacifist weaponof agitation, its power is sometimes ransomed to over-determined success in the commercial realm ofproduct advertising.

Posters have transformed the modern urbanlandscape irrevocably. Technologies involved in theirproduction are becoming increasingly sophisticatedbut the simplicity of their format (the key to theirabiding success) ensures that powerful visualmessages can still be conveyed with effective potency.It seems that the conclusion drawn from this text isthat the responsibility for their success, howevernoble or ignoble the intent of their message, rests inthe eye and the mind of the beholder.

A less direct but often richer and more complexvisual medium of political propaganda can be seen inthe examples of socialist realist painting reproducedin Matthew Cullerne Bown's fascinating study of thehistory of socialist realism under communism. This isthe first comprehensive analysis of socialist realistpainting in the Soviet Union that brings the reader upto date with the trajectory of the style after the collapseof communism in the late 1980s. This is a lavishlyillustrated, in-depth scholarly analysis that will un-doubtedly serve as the major reference book on thesubject for years to come. Bown clearly articulates thefate of the realist aesthetic in the Soviet Union (and inwestern Europe) through its many tragedies andtriumphs. Central to his premise is a re-evaluation ofthe history of twentieth-century western art to moreaccurately consider Russia's contribution to it. Whilewestern perceptions have focussed almost entirely onthe contribution of the avant-garde through construc-tivism, though not without good reason, CullerneBown works hard to redress this imbalance in order toafford the aesthetic of socialist realism a more seriousposition within the modernist debate. Bown's text is atour de force of detailed archival research combined withan engaging synthesis of historical and visualanalysis. It interrogates a range of issues, includinga consideration of the aesthetic positions of bothLenin and Stalin through their own statements on thesubject, as well as an interesting overview on the fateof the `Theory of Reflection' after the Cold War. Withwell over five hundred illustrations, many reproducedin large scale colour, and detailed and extensive notesand index, this is an invaluable resource book for everyacademic library.

Dr Dorothy Rowe, Department of Art, Roehampton Institute, London

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