Osley, A. Persuading the People 1995

A government publication aimed at the younger generations, although older generations would also be interested in the many illustrations of posters, leaflets, etc.

The book begins with a brief chronology, and an explanation of why the subject is still of relevance, before outlining the wartime publicity machine which produced so many campaigns. The book then deals with various themes such as morale, mobilisation, salvage and health. The book ends with a brief bibliography that contains many of the key works still relevant at PhD level!

Davies, J. The Book of Guinness Advertising, 1998

When I bought this book, it was the cover which caught my eye! A multiplicity of colourful Guinness advertising (particularly posters) was tiled across the front. However, the new cover is also instantly recognisable as Guinness advertising – reminiscent of the ‘black and white’ campaign which has again been replaced! One cannot stand still in the world of advertising as interest in the product needs to be maintained!

Guinness advertisements have been running since 1929, necessary in a world in which pubs were/are tied to breweries, the independent drink needed to create such a demand for the drink that pubs would be FORCED to stock it! The entire history of Guinness advertising is dealt with intelligently in this book, which is finished off with a bibliography for further research.

A wonderful, informative, nostalgic book – and I don’t even LIKE Guinness!!!

You can see more at the Guinness website.

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Darracott, J., Loftus, B. Second World War Posters London: HMSO, 1972 (Reprinted 1981)

A well illustrated work that accompanied an exhibition of war posters at the Imperial War Museum. It was edited by Joseph Darracott, the head of the Art Department at the IWM, with many illustrations prefaced by a short introductory piece. Each of the colour poster illustrations, most of which are British (a reflection of the holdings of the IWM, which contains some 20-30,000 British posters) are accompanied by biographical information about the artist, and contextual information about the situation in which the posters were produced.

“Posters are not designed to last, rather, they are intended to catch the mood of the moment and turn it to advantage. … As we look at war posters, we see our modern world reflected.” [p9]

Campaign: The 100 best posters of the century, 1999

A really fascinating book which considers, as the title says, the 100 best posters of the twentieth century. BUT, who decides what can be considered the ‘best’. The decisions were made by a wide range of people working for some of the most prolific current British advertising agencies.

Apparently a lot of time was required to produce a list of the ’100 best’, but of particular interest to me, studying for a PhD in British WW2 posters, are the 5 posters from that period which are chosen, by Abram Games, who worked for the War Office. Also of interest was the fact that the First World War poster, Kitchener’s ‘Your Country Needs You‘, which is so well remembered, and has been so much imitated, at number 2!

When I first received this book, my friends and I spent an enjoyable time looking at those we remembered, and considering the reasoning behind which some of them had been picked. A very good spread of posters from the entire century, which considering the time it was written, does not focus too much upon the recent campaigns to the detriment of past campaigns. A few more historical comments would have been interesting, but that was not really the remit of this work!

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Katrina Royall: ‘Posters of the Second World War: The Fourth Arm of Defence?’

Royall, K., ‘Posters of the Second World War: The Fourth Arm of Defence?’
MA Thesis, completed 1991. Westminster University

Poster campaigns from the Second World War are a part of people’s collective memories. Frustrated by the lack of published information on the subject, this project investigates the British posters of the Second World War produced by the Ministry of Information and the response to them.

In 2004 Royall was Course Administrator at the V&A.

Posters of the Cold War

“The poster was a key medium in the Cold War, used to produce both fear and loyalty at home and abroad. “Posters of the Cold War” surveys poster design from the late 1940s when the ‘Iron Curtain’ was drawn across Europe to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Featuring over seventy designs by some of the leading artists and graphic designers of the period including Pablo Picasso, Grapus Design Collective and Peter Kennard, posters have been selected from twenty countries to demonstrate the wide international reach of the conflict.

David Crowley teaches history at the Royal College of Art, London. He has published many articles and books on the history of graphic design and is a specialist on the culture of Eastern Europe in the twentieth century. He is the consultant curator of Cold War Modern, a major V&A exhibition.”

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A Century of Olympic Posters

by Margaret Timmers (2008)

“As four-yearly snapshots through time, Olympic posters provide a fascinating record of our world – a lens through which we can explore links between sport and art, politics and place, commerce and culture. They offer an intensely visual representation of the modern Games, sometimes heralded as the ‘Greatest Sporting Show on Earth’. “A Century of Olympic Games Posters” draws largely on the V&A’s poster collection and shows the evolution of the Olympic Games poster, from the first official poster for Stockholm in 1912, right up to the present. This diverse collection of images includes official posters for the Summer and Winter Games set in their historical context, and linked to pervading themes such as politics, commerce, the Olympic symbols, cultural and physical diversity, and urban regeneration. It accompanies an exhibition at the Museum of Childhood.”

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1851775382/britishomefro-21

Vietnam Posters: The David Heather Collection

“Rarely viewed by the outside world, this collection of posters from the 1950s to the present encompasses a politically significant period in Vietnamese history. With their boldly rendered images of Ho Chi Minh and local heroes; guerrilla fighters, tanks and bombers; factory workers and the urban and rural landscape, these posters-many produced in small numbers under economically adverse conditions-reverberate with vibrant colors and innovative graphic language, revealing much about the country’s cultural and political climate. An overview of the collection shows how imagery from indigenous folk art, the work of French-trained nationally acclaimed artists, as well as Russian and Chinese propaganda styles have all influenced the unusual, graphically diverse styles of these posters. This collection offers a deeply resonating, visually arresting social history of a country during times of peace and war.

About the Authors

DAVID HEATHER is a businessman, curator, and collector of North Korean and Vietnamese art and the co-author of North Korean Posters (Prestel). He lives in London.SHERRY BUCHANAN is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune. She is the publisher of Asia Ink and the author of several books on art, history, and culture.”

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North Korean Posters: The David Heather Collection

“This rare glimpse into North Korean society is the first book of its kind: a riveting collection of state-sponsored propaganda posters that presents the unique graphic sensibilities of this little-known country. Seldom seen by the outside world, North Korea s propaganda art colors the cities and countryside with vibrant images of brave soldiers, happy and well-fed peasants, and a heroic and compassionate leader. More than 250 of these posters are collected here for the first time, showing the wide range of North Korean propaganda art. Hand-painted pieces of art, these posters display the latest political slogans that are repeated in newspaper editorials, government declarations, and compulsory study sessions throughout the country. A collection that will appeal to artists and graphic designers as well as those interested in this closed society, this book may not represent the reality of North Korea, but rather a vision of the country as promoted by its regime and depicted by its state-sponsored artists.”

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Seduction or Instruction?: First World War Posters in Britain and Europe

Jim Aulich & John Hewitt (2007)

“This book makes a critical and historical analysis of the public information poster and its graphic derivatives in Britain and Europe during the First World War. Governments need public support in time of war. The First World War was the first international conflict to see the launch of major publicity campaigns designed to maintain public support for national needs and government policies. What we now know as spin has its origins in the phenomenon. Then, as now, the press, photography and film played an important role, but in the early 20th century there was no radio, television or internet and the most publicly visible advertising medium was the poster. Considering the museological and memorialising imperatives behind the formation of the war publicity collection at the Imperial War Museum, this fascinating book goes on to provide a constitutional and iconographical analyses of the British Government recruiting, War Loan and charity campaigns; the effect of the inroads of the poster into important public and symbolic spaces; a comparative analysis of European poster design and the visual contribution of the poster through style and iconography to languages of ‘imagined communities’ and the construction of the individual subject. The book will of interest to design historians, historians and readers involved with the study of communication arts, publicity, advertising and visual culture at every level.”

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