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Propaganda Posters of Soviet Union on View for First Time in Six Decades at the Art Institute

CHICAGO (REUTERS).- The horrors and heroism of World War Two are given a fresh look in an Art Institute of Chicago exhibition of rediscovered Soviet propaganda posters, which depict Hitler as blood-thirsty, anxious and perverse.

One poster in the "Windows on the War" exhibition, opening to the public on Sunday, features a caricature of a worried Hitler hiding a crude hand gesture under his cap while Joseph Goebbels orates nervously.

Another poster produced by Moscow's TASS studios depicts a fearsome, wolf-like Nazi drooling as Allied bombs fall; and another depicts heroic partisans blowing up a Nazi supply train and firing at escaping soldiers.

"Despite the tyranny of Stalin, creativity flourished" in the former Soviet Union as artists felt motivated to contribute to the war effort, said Jill Bugajski of the Art Institute, one of the curators of the exhibition of some 250 posters, paintings and mementos that continues through October 23.

PEN, BRUSH, BAYONET
"I want the pen to be on par with the bayonet," wrote poet and poster contributor Vladimir Mahakovsky, who wrote captions and poems that adorned the posters.

A cache of the now-brittle posters were discovered in 1997 sitting on a shelf in one of the Art Institute's storage closets during a renovation. Two paper rolls and 26 parcels containing the forgotten works were unfolded, restored and some placed behind plexiglass for the exhibition.

Three hundred artists and writers produced some 1,400 poster designs in Moscow's TASS' studios, which was part of the telegraph and news agency.

Using up to 60 stencils for each poster to layer still-bright paint on cheap newsprint, many of the 800,000 TASS posters produced were lost or forgotten.

They were intended to "create a mood of urgency while visually aggrandizing the Soviet solder, defining the Nazi enemy as vile and subhuman, and emphasizing the woeful suffering of the Soviet people," museum exhibitors said.

Inspired by the prewar mocking of "degenerate art" by the Nazis, who also put on an anti-Bolshevik art exhibition, the Soviet artists took liberties with Communist "social realism" to create shocking, sometimes humorous, images.

The hand-painted posters were distributed to newspapers, museums, libraries and "Russian friendship" societies around the world by the Soviet propaganda operation, the USSR Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.

Frequently placed in the vacant windows of war-time shops and reprinted in newspapers, the posters have been largely forgotten since the war, curators said.

Each illustration had its purpose, which seems distant now in light of the subsequent Cold War and today's up-and-down U.S.-Russia relations: reinforce the Anglo-Soviet alliance against Germany that was signed in September 1941, and lift recruitment and spirits among the beleaguered Allies.

The 157 posters selected for the show offer a diary of the war -- from crushing Soviet losses, to the defense of Stalingrad, to the defeat of Germany in 1945. Among them is a warning to Soviet soldiers that the punishment for retreating was death.

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View the original article here: http://www.reuters.com/

To see the posters this is the best site: http://www.retrothing.com/2011/08/soviet-wwii-propaganda-posters.html

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Nothing is above a little snazzing up.

Stencilling is a simple craft that only requires a few tools, minimal time and even less money. For that, you can create a personalized piece of home decor.

Take the cabinet in my bathroom, which my partner gave to me several years ago. It was fine. It held the necessities and had an (albeit dated) white paint job that allowed it to blend in nicely between the sink and the toilet. Still, I realized that it could use something, and after considering découpage and a mini mural, I decided that that something was stencilling.

I gave the little wooden cabinet a fresh coat of white paint and decorated it by painting a gold Art Deco pattern on the door using a stencil I devised myself. Here’s how I went about it:

 • Find an image: I Googled Art Deco clip art and chose a floral pattern. I liked it because it didn’t have a lot of small details I’d have to fuss over and I could use a small section of the pattern, rather than the whole design, and it would still look fine. When searching for your art, you can also look through one of the many books of stencils or draw your own.

 • Prepare the stencil: I printed out the image and traced it onto a sheet of vellum before cutting it out with a pair of scissors. This isn’t the wisest way to go about things. I’d use plastic transparency paper, which you can even use in your printer, or cardboard for my next project. Also, I’d use a graphic arts knife and a cutting mat.

 • Secure the stencil: I used masking tape to secure it to the door of the cabinet, matching the corner of the paper to a corner on the door to make sure that everything lined up properly.

 • Apply the paint: I chose a deep gold acrylic paint that goes with the colour scheme of the bathroom and applied it over the stencil with a small brush. This is when I found that it’s important to secure the stencil well and use a proper brush: some of the paint got underneath it and I had to fix things. To help ensure a smooth application, you should use a stencil brush (the bristles are tightly packed and all one length) or a foam brush or roller.

 • Remove the stencil and allow the paint to dry.

Some great examples of stencil art can be seen in Ed Roth’s Stencil 101 and Stencil Me In by Marthe Le Van. You can use the technique throughout your home (fabric, walls, etc.), just be sure to look up specific instructions for the surface and paint you’re planning to stencil with to make sure that you will get the result you want and use the materials safely.

This was a very cheap project. I already had most of the supplies I needed. My only real expense was a tube of paint, which was about $4. If you need to gather materials, plastic transparency film is $30 or so for a box. Stencil brushes come in a variety of sizes, but shouldn’t cost more than $5 each. Same for a graphic arts knife.

With that I have a one-of-a-kind piece that perfectly suits my style.

Snazzy.

You can contact Jennifer O’Connor at thriftyflair@gmail.com or follow her on Facebook.

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View the original article here: http://www.yourhome.ca/

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Decorating has long been an issue for me and especially when it comes to the walls in our home. Why? Well, when we were in the military, we either rented or lived in base housing and there’s usually not a lot you can do with the walls. Our last two houses have been rentals and while I was told we could paint, I never did. Every house we lived in, the kids have asked if we can do something with the walls. I guess they are as sick of white as I am.

One idea I am toying around with is using stencils to decorate portions of their room. I actually did that once, when our first two were little and all we had to do was paint over it when we moved out. I only had to paint over the wall where the stencil was. Easy peasy.

Using wall stencils for decorating is a great way to add character and color to your child’s room, without having to paint every single wall.

What I love about using stencils, is it gives you the look of wallpaper without the mess. I have put up wallpaper once. Once was enough. Never, ever again. Stencils are affordable, trendy, gorgeous and truly make decorating a wall soooo easy!

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Thank you to Tara at ToyXplosion for this really interesting piece.

Don't forget to paint over the stencils when you leave your rental or you may lose your deposit.

Leslee