The visual impact and immense communicative value of TASS posters have been evident since they were first created - in June 1941 - having derived from the skills of the painters and poets who produced them. Although intended for short term display and distribution during WW2 to raise morale on the home front as the Nazis advanced towards Moscow, Leningrad and the Volga, the striking design and popularity of the posters ensured their appeal during the late 1940s -1950s.

The roots of the Windows of TASS (Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union) posters ran deep in the avant garde of 1917-1922, particularly in the posters by Rodchenko and Mayakovsky, who turned a pre-revolutionary popular format of ‘lubok’ into a sharp and powerful art form. A later TASS poster was a creation of stencils, inks and images cut in squares to be hand coloured and reprinted, with the text pasted onto the final design.

After WW2 the contents of TASS posters widened and the posters became a running commentary on the affairs of the day, dealingwith everyday subjects:

education, exploring the North,
an anti-alcoholism campaign,
support for women in management etc.

The current exhibition is a unique attempt to try and break the boundaries and introduce a contemporary take on the revolutionary graphic art of the 20th Century.

Olga Mamonova

Art historian and author

BAKER MAMONOVA GALLERY