Peter Zegers

Summary

Windows on the War is the first major publication in English to focus on an extraordinary series of posters issued during World War II by TASS, the official Soviet news agency. TASS posters were produced daily from the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941) to the end of the European conflict (May 10, 1945). These state-sponsored works were intended to function as psychological weapons and morale boosters for Soviet troops and citizens, as well as provide news updates. The stenciled posters were executed by a collective of artists, writers, and printers in editions varying from 500 to 1,500. By the end of the war, 1,250 individual posters had been created. A nearly complete collection is housed today in the Russian State Library, Moscow.

This extraordinary project is not well known in the West, even though a number of museums and other cultural organizations in the Allied nations were sent a representative cross-section of the TASS posters produced during the conflict in the hope that they would be exhibited and encourage support for the Soviet Union’s struggle along the eastern front. The Art Institute of Chicago received 160 TASS posters, which form the core of the exhibition that occasions this book.

The book examines the posters as agents of information and persuasion in mobilizing a nation, promoting warrelated industrial production, conserving food and resources, and advocating such issues as recruitment, vigilance, and safety. The role of artists—and the agencies and organizations for which they worked—in wartime is also explored. The themes and aesthetics of the posters are situated in the ideologies of the warring nations and in established pictorial traditions of the era, ranging from high art to political cartoons and satire. At the same time, the posters are examined in light of the visual propaganda of both Allied and Axis nations. In addition to six essays, more than 150 key posters are examined in depth in individual entries.

The Art Institute of Chicago, 2011
9.75 x 12.75 in.; 384 pages; 350 illustrations
Hardcover $65.00