Customer Reviews

Art and Propaganda in the Twentieth Century

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The relationship of art to politics has always been an uneasy one, and never more so than in the twentieth century. Governments seek to bend art to their own purposes; artists resist and subvert such efforts. But what happens when artists work on behalf of a political program or idea? Is their art corrupted? Exactly when is art propaganda?

As Toby Clark argues, propaganda appears in many guises, not all of them suspect. Nor is the desire to persuade always at odds with the desire to create works of beauty. What is the relatonship of propaganda to the avant-garde? How do artists use scale and style to create political effects? How do art styles become identified with political systems? Is art tainted or elevated by its political content?

In this wide ranging book, Clark examines work from all points of the globe, from the state propaganda of communism to the public art of democracies, from protest art of the 1960s to the efforts of artists in the nations of modern Africa. Beginning with the classic propaganda art of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Stalin's Soviet Union - each with its own style, motives, and purposes - he then examines how democratic governments have also sponsored propaganda art, especially in wartime, exploring such problamatic issues as the representation of enemies and the commemoration of the dead.

Art created in opposition to ruling ideas and values may also fall under the rubric of propaganda. Since the beginning of the century radical artists have embraced revolutionary, pacifist, feminist, and anticolonial causes. Clark describes the spectrum of competing theories and goals of protest art from Africa to Latin America, from Europe to the United States to China, and uncovers the complex rhetoric, the high beauty, and the ambiguous role of art that dwells in the political realm.
--- from book's back cover

A very nice introductory text to the history of images and propaganda. A pleasure to read.