Customer Reviews

North Korean Posters: The David Heather Collection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To quote from Koen De Ceuster in the book's intro: 'Only if the poster appeals to the ideological and aesthetic sentiments of the people will it succeed in truly rousing the people'. The cynical might conclude because the people were not truly roused by these posters is a good enough reason to explain why the economy of the DPRK is in such a ramshackle state.

The 250 reproduced are pretty lackluster in their creativity. This becomes apparent when compared to Soviet Posters (published by Prestel in 2007 and the same size and format) though admittedly they developed over several decades and had the benefit of talent like Lissitzky, Govorkov and Rodchenko to create political masterpieces. With a closed society like North Korea where creativity emanated from the two Kims should anyone expect anything better.

Despite a sameness to many of the images some do stand out. A poster on page 233 is an interesting painting of four horsemen with flags, riding into the future (where else!). As with so many posters shown the groupings are the same: a soldier, woman farmer, steel worker and an intellectual. The painting style looks quite contemporary though. On page 251 has a diesel engine done in a very graphic style with the side of the unit incorporating bold type, the poster headline is in the same perspective as the engine. There are no dates or artists mentioned in any of the captions and looking through the pages I get the impression that maybe the bulk of the posters were created by a small group of artists and designers.

There is a chapter called: Undeterred Defiance, with forty-five works hurling abuse and dire consequences at the US and some of these look several decades old. Covering the Korean war and later the capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968 and a US helicopter incident in 1994. These last two events, very minor in the scheme of things but as they are the only two things where the US directly affected North Korea their importance is exaggerated enormously.

The book is identical to the Soviet Posters I've mentioned. The same 288 pages, color throughout, in 150 screen and also the same annoyance of having all the captions and page numbers sideways on each page (so four stars) but I thought the Soviet book's contents far more interesting. With two books covering the same subject I wonder if Prestel will extend the idea to Cuban, Polish and East German political posters?

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I purchased this book for my husband for Christmas. He has a deep interest in propaganda as well as North Korea. This book is full of really neat and sometimes beautiful as well as disturbing pictures. The husband is concerned that something is lost in the translation of the posters as well as it seems the person who wrote the book is a bit of a sympathizer. That doesn't matter much to him because all he cares about is the artwork. Either way... a great book.

Prestel publishes a series of books of collections of posters from various 'communist' countries. They are extremely interesting to look through and especially to see how styles/subjects change as time progresses. The only qualm I have is that they did not date the posters in this book. In the Soviet Posters, they were dated, and history sorts of people enjoy that. Based on the amount of secrecy in North Korea, dates may have been unknown/unavailable.

This is a beautiful book about how the North Korean government wants it's citizens and the world to perceive their nation. Looking at the images provided and the news on television and it is easy to make comparisons to George Orwell's 1984. References to chocolate rations spring to mind :)
The artwork in many of the posters is of idealised stereotypes and beautiful, and while it might not appeal to a western audience, may have a far greater impact upon the North Korean target audience. A good example of this is the image used on the cover depicting a soldier, a nurse and an officer of some sort, all looking outwards, apparently united in facing an undisclosed threat. Every face shows strength and determination and is designed to appeal to the target audience as an "ideal North Korean" and to highlight the value of those in professions supporting the military efforts of North Korea.
This book is an excellent insight into the propaganda machine of North Korea and I recommend it highly to anyone interested.

Hello:
This incredible North Korean Propaganda Posters's Compilation is awesome! Hundreds of posters showing the everyday normal life slogans, the insane hate to the United States and the obsolete beliefs of such an out-of-time society. Sometimes, while I was watching the posters, I was thinkig that North Korea is the most radical communist country in the world, so the posters are. They, formally, are still in war with "imperialism"!!
Can't believe it until you see it. Totally recommended for propaganda lovers, political interested and designers all over the world.

Greetings from Barcelona!

This is not an accurate representation of North Korean posters. The selection tends to prefer the military and exhortatory poster. There are "normal" posters in North Korea.

The thematic organization is also quite arbitrary, with lots of overlap, and there are loads of factual errors in the introductory essays, not to mention poster translation errors.

The collectors, Heather and De Ceuster, are obviously new to North Korea and North Korean studies. They also made no attempt to put artists' names and dates to the posters.

That information is available in North Korean sources. It is very strange that De Ceuster, whom the back matter says is a Korean history lecturer, did not get this information.

The collection, unfortunately, gets one star. I am certainly not sympathetic to North Korea. The book is simply not up to the standard of a seriously researched collection.