Postcards from Utopia: The Art of Political Propaganda

by Bodleian Library (Editor), Andrew Roberts (Introduction)

Politicians are famous for making extravagant campaign promises. But there are few promises as powerful—or as idealistically utopian—as those put forth by state-sponsored propaganda. Collected here are colorful images of political ideology created and disseminated by the political regimes of Europe, the Soviet Union, and China from the 1920s through the ‘70s. State leaders of the twentieth century were highly conscious of the need to present a unified national image during a time of serious political transition in Europe, and state-sanctioned art performed a key function in an attempt to consolidate a country behind an idea. These spectacular images provide a rare opportunity to witness how abstract political ideas were rendered as visual picture for a mass audience. Fifty compelling postcards, held in the collection of the Bodleian Library, from the former Soviet Union, China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Albania, reveal that despite national differences there are surprising similarities in political expression and the idealized images presented by each government. An introduction that contextualizes the images within a broader understanding of the ideologies and political powers of the time is provided by European historian, Andrew Roberts. Taken together, the images in Postcards from Utopia offer a striking look at the art of power and its mythical representation at a time of great political upheaval and experiment.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 2009

About the author

The Bodleian Library, established in 1602, is the main research library of the University of Oxford and one of the oldest libraries in Europe. In Britain it is second in size only to the British Library.

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Reviews

[Jan Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to look at postcards from the U.S.S.R., Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and the Cultural Revolution in China. The commentary analyzing the images is incisive and is as interesting as the images. Thought provoking and resonant.

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice collection of propaganda postcards and explanation by the author..

[🐜 · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I understand that sources might be difficult to find from postcards, the fact that so few artists are credited is really disappointing. If you can't find any information, why include it?

[Kriegslok · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compact little book featuring a small collection of nicely reproduced political propaganda postcards from some of the big ideological players of the 20th Century. Not a lot of text, just brief descriptions of the postcard and the circumstances around its subject of depiction (sometimes a little too subjective for my liking). For me (to be subjective) it shows the superiority of the Soviet Social Realist school over the generally rather wooden and staid National Socialist art. I don't know it Italian Fascist Futurist work never made it to postcards, doesn't seem to feature in this collection which is a shame as it actually had some artistic merit. A good pocket sized reference work.