What impact could a paper poster possibly make in the time of social media? We’ll look into the matter in out political poster workshop.
In his article in the Guardian from March 7th 2010 Sam Leith notes that “Political posters used to be works of art. Today, they’re crass, ugly and sterile”. As an example he brings the following poster from the collection of the People’s History Museum in Manchester from 1909, praising it as having an appeal as pieces of art, over and above their value as propaganda:
Leith brings a short list of qualities political posters should meet:
- Aim to symbolise an abstract idea;
- Avoid negative campaigning;
- Create pieces of art instead of using (digitally altered) photographs.
As an example that meets all these criteria he points to Shepard Fairey’s poster of Barack Obama: “The line of the future president’s shoulders swell upwards from left to right, like his poll ratings. He’s staring up and over the viewer’s shoulder, above the horizon, towards what we can only presume is the future. The colour scheme is red, white and blue. The left side of the face is red, the middle pale, the right blue. There’s an implication – derived from the sunrise campaign logo he’s wearing on his lapel – that the rosy side of Obama’s face is bathed with the dawn towards which he’s looking.
What made this such a great modern political poster, though, was the fact that it was not really modern and not really a political poster. It wasn’t commissioned by the Obama campaign – although they got behind it when it went viral. It was the work of an artist, not an ad-man. It was also a notably retro thing: a screenprint with a social-realist flavour. That chin-raised 1,000-yard stare has been a favourite with headscarved, broom-waving women and beefy-armed men ever since the first communist picked up a paintbrush.”
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Another example of a famous and efficient political poster is a Polish election poster from 1989 titled “High Noon” (“W samo południe”) created by Tomasz Sarnecki for the Solidarity movement.
It features famous American movie star Gary Cooper as Marshal Will Kane from the 1952 Western film High Noon. In the poster, Cooper’s character is reimagined: he is wearing a Solidarity badge on his vest and holding a ballot paper instead of a gun, symbolizing a peaceful democratic showdown. The text “4 CZERWCA 1989” refers to June 4, 1989, the date of the first partially free elections in Poland, which marked a turning point in the end of Communist rule.
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Now let’s take a look of some political posters used in Estonia in 1989, the year of political awakening. Analyze the messages you can see on the posters and the artistic value of each poster visible:
Ruth and Leo Dolenko and the other national heritage activists in front of the War Commission Office on April 14th 1989. Võrumaa Muuseum VK F 1643:30 F
August 23rd in the Baltic Chain: the family of Kersti Pai and other members of the Popular Front, Võrumaa Muuseum VK F 1644:13 F
