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SOVIET WAR POSTERS, c1940-1945
The Tass Poster Series from the Hallward Library, University of Nottingham

"An important visual contribution, graphic, colourful and imaginative, this microfiche edition provides a most useful insight into economic and social conditions in the war years."
Dr Stephen White
University of Glasgow
Author of The Bolshevik Poster (Yale, 1988)

"The TASS Window posters were significant as they were produced from stencils so that they could quickly respond to the news of the moment as compared to the printed poster. Dozens of prominent Soviet painters, artists, cartoonists, writers and poets participated in this work which imitated the ROSTA posters of the Civil War period. They were produced in very limited editions of a maximum of 1500. The current edition is the largest number of TASS Windows to be published in a single collection and includes items of which there is no record even in the Lenin Library catalogue of TASS Windows."
Dr Derek W Spring
Consultant Editor
Department of History,
University of Nottingham

Visually stunning and extremely scarce, the complete Nottingham University Collection of 129 hand-painted TASS Windows are published in this microform edition for the first time, together with a further 37 printed posters from the same period. As Dr Spring has commented, this is the largest number of TASS Windows ever to be published in a single collection. Only 10 have been published before and 16 items do not appear in the Lenin Library Catalogue.

Many of the Posters are extremely large (often as big as 2m by 1.3m) and in need of preservation. Originally produced by stencils in short runs of about 600 copies each the posters combined graphic power with didactic text to convey the political messages of those in power. As a result of their size and their public propaganda use, it is inevitable that many of the posters displayed were destroyed. The large Nottingham University Library Collection was saved as a result of the far-sighted collecting interests of Professor Vivian de Sola Pinto who gathered them together for preservation at the end of the Second World War.

The Posters combine artistic, literary, historical and political interest and will encourage inter-disciplinary research. They are a prime resource for Soviet Studies.

The Posters illuminate social and political conditions and cover many significant themes such as:

The Role of Women
Morale and Attrition
Arctic Convoys
The Italian Front
The Great Fatherland
Argentina
Switzerland
Marshall Zhukov
Anti-Fascism
Liberation
The Finnish Campaign
Britain and America
Allied Unity
Czechoslovakia
Spain
The D-Day Landings

The collection illustrates the themes and tone of the Soviet propaganda effort from the turning point of the war at Stalingrad to the final victory in Berlin. Amongst distinctive features are the appeal to Russian patriotism and the historical tradition of repelling Napoleon and other invaders; the effort to maintain the war effort and commitment as the war passed from Soviet territory into Eastern Europe in 1944; the positive image of the western allies and their military campaigns; vengeance for Nazi atrocities; apprehensions about neutral countries protecting fleeing Nazis; the heroic efforts of the Soviet armies; and the dependable, fatherly image of Stalin.

It is interesting to note how swiftly run the tides of change. Zhukov is praised exuberantly immediately before his fall from grace in 1946 and British and American forces are constantly depicted as heroes before their post-war transition to enemies of the people.

The visual image was all important because the majority of the Russian people were still illiterate or only semi-literate at the end of the War. As a result, the finest artists, cartoonists and writers were brought together to create this unique art form, designed to impassion the people and encourage them to make sacrifices for the good of their country. Each poster was created within 24 hours, allowing the government to respond quickly to current events – similar to the use of modern newscasts.

Leading artists represented include F V Antonov, Mikhail Cheremnykh, N F Denisovsky, Viktor Deny, Viktor Ivanov, Boris Karetsky, the Kukryniksy cartoonists, V V Lebedev, P M Shukmin, P P Sokolov-Skalya, M M Solov’ev and Irakly Toidze.

Leading authors represented include Demyan Bedny – the proletarian poet, V I Lebedev-Kumach, Samuel Marshak, and Vladimir Mayakarsky.

The size and condition of the posters urged the case for a preservation copy to be made, but also created difficulties for microfilming which we have tried to overcome. Whilst fiche were thought to be easier for many scholars and students to use, the increased frame size of 35mm microfilm offered greater image resolution. Whilst colour microfilm offered the prospect of capturing the bright colours that are so much a part of the overall impact of the originals, it was recognised that the expected archival life of colour microfilm is only 20-50 years, whereas the expected archival life of polyester-based black and white film is 400-500 years (the expected archival life of optical disks is only 2-10 years). As such, it was decided that we would create a high-quality, polyester-based, 35mm silver-halide, black and white microfilm of all of the posters, as well as complete colour microfilm and black and white microfiche versions. All three are provided to purchasers of the collection together with the detailed guide to the posters project.

Family and Picture of Stalin

  Highlights
Description
Contents
Editorial introduction
Digital Guide
 
 
 
 
 
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