Propaganda through Montage... ---- The new exhibition at La
Contemporaine, along with its accompanying catalog, and the joint
publication of research on propaganda through photomontage, provide a
perspective on major developments in the art of mass communication
between the two wars. ---- Max Bonhomme's book explores the birth and
development of photomontage in five dense chapters. Born in advertising
circles, it was used from the early 20th century to promote the tourist
attractions of Paris, for example. Its medium then relied primarily on
postcards. Subsequently, the news magazine Vu attempted to narrate
events using this technique. It was also popular with police
investigative journalism, which did the same with major cases. While
they spread rapidly in France, these techniques were particularly widely
used in the so-called avant-garde artistic circles of Germany and the
USSR. Max Bonhomme points out that one of the central players in this
new use of images was International Workers' Relief, the organization
founded by the Comintern to help victims of famine in the USSR. Its
founder, the German communist Willy Münzenberg, quickly used the
organization to make propaganda films in favor of the USSR and create
several companies dedicated to using images for this purpose. The
newspaper, Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeintung (Workers' Illustrated
Newspaper), enjoyed success beyond the spheres of influence of communist
circles. An exact copy of the techniques used in Germany was developed
in France. For example, the front pages of the communist newspaper Nos
regards copied those of the AIZ. The Münzenberg network also imported
Soviet photomontages. The posters of Klucis and Senkin stand out for
their ability to innovate and renew propaganda themes. Thus, New Russia
and then The Call of the Soviets (in both French and German) broke with
the traditional canons of posters and covers and renewed the genre. The
Association of Revolutionary Artists and Writers founded in the wake of
the French Communist Party is another illustration of this, as the Willy
Ronis poster reproduced in the book highlights both artistic research
and the implementation of a new form of propaganda.
The author then details the techniques implemented and the recurring
themes used. We find the classics of the communist imagination:
industrial imagination reproduced either to denounce capitalist
countries or to promote the USSR, visual diversion, reverse shot. The
press then used cinematic means to create an impression of movement and
consequently set the crowds in motion. These innovative techniques rely
on contrasting visual temporalities to demonstrate the opposition
between communist good and capitalist evil, the crowd on one side and
the people on the other, the oppressors. These propaganda visuals were
displayed on a large scale at the 1937 World's Fair, and all regimes
eventually drew inspiration from them, as demonstrated by the propaganda
poster created by the French state in 1943.
Max Bonhomme is one of the masterminds of the exhibition, which opens at
the Contemporaine on November 19, 2025. The catalog and exhibition give
ample space to its principal author, John Heartfield. This former
Dadaist turned communist was one of the main promoters of the movement.
It was he who, for example, created the KPD's propaganda posters. A
refugee in England, he ended his career in East Germany after World War
II. The exhibition curators then gave ample space to collages from the
USSR or glorifying its image, as demonstrated by the abundant
illustrations from the communist press. They also emphasize that
photomontage became a symbolic battleground between the various forms of
totalitarian propaganda. Although it disappeared after the Second World
War, it enjoyed a second life in the 1960s and 1970s before being
definitively abandoned in the era of digital image transformation.
Graphic Propaganda
Max Bonhomme
Éditions de la Sorbonne 2025 378 p. EUR29
Cut and paste print
Max Bonhomme and Aline Théret
Anamosa/La contemporaine 2025 258 p. EUR35
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8644
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Contemporaine, along with its accompanying catalog, and the joint
publication of research on propaganda through photomontage, provide a
perspective on major developments in the art of mass communication
between the two wars. ---- Max Bonhomme's book explores the birth and
development of photomontage in five dense chapters. Born in advertising
circles, it was used from the early 20th century to promote the tourist
attractions of Paris, for example. Its medium then relied primarily on
postcards. Subsequently, the news magazine Vu attempted to narrate
events using this technique. It was also popular with police
investigative journalism, which did the same with major cases. While
they spread rapidly in France, these techniques were particularly widely
used in the so-called avant-garde artistic circles of Germany and the
USSR. Max Bonhomme points out that one of the central players in this
new use of images was International Workers' Relief, the organization
founded by the Comintern to help victims of famine in the USSR. Its
founder, the German communist Willy Münzenberg, quickly used the
organization to make propaganda films in favor of the USSR and create
several companies dedicated to using images for this purpose. The
newspaper, Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeintung (Workers' Illustrated
Newspaper), enjoyed success beyond the spheres of influence of communist
circles. An exact copy of the techniques used in Germany was developed
in France. For example, the front pages of the communist newspaper Nos
regards copied those of the AIZ. The Münzenberg network also imported
Soviet photomontages. The posters of Klucis and Senkin stand out for
their ability to innovate and renew propaganda themes. Thus, New Russia
and then The Call of the Soviets (in both French and German) broke with
the traditional canons of posters and covers and renewed the genre. The
Association of Revolutionary Artists and Writers founded in the wake of
the French Communist Party is another illustration of this, as the Willy
Ronis poster reproduced in the book highlights both artistic research
and the implementation of a new form of propaganda.
The author then details the techniques implemented and the recurring
themes used. We find the classics of the communist imagination:
industrial imagination reproduced either to denounce capitalist
countries or to promote the USSR, visual diversion, reverse shot. The
press then used cinematic means to create an impression of movement and
consequently set the crowds in motion. These innovative techniques rely
on contrasting visual temporalities to demonstrate the opposition
between communist good and capitalist evil, the crowd on one side and
the people on the other, the oppressors. These propaganda visuals were
displayed on a large scale at the 1937 World's Fair, and all regimes
eventually drew inspiration from them, as demonstrated by the propaganda
poster created by the French state in 1943.
Max Bonhomme is one of the masterminds of the exhibition, which opens at
the Contemporaine on November 19, 2025. The catalog and exhibition give
ample space to its principal author, John Heartfield. This former
Dadaist turned communist was one of the main promoters of the movement.
It was he who, for example, created the KPD's propaganda posters. A
refugee in England, he ended his career in East Germany after World War
II. The exhibition curators then gave ample space to collages from the
USSR or glorifying its image, as demonstrated by the abundant
illustrations from the communist press. They also emphasize that
photomontage became a symbolic battleground between the various forms of
totalitarian propaganda. Although it disappeared after the Second World
War, it enjoyed a second life in the 1960s and 1970s before being
definitively abandoned in the era of digital image transformation.
Graphic Propaganda
Max Bonhomme
Éditions de la Sorbonne 2025 378 p. EUR29
Cut and paste print
Max Bonhomme and Aline Théret
Anamosa/La contemporaine 2025 258 p. EUR35
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8644
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten