World War 2 Art Gallery
World War Two was an experience that history will never forget. The battles and the crisis that many groups had to suffer during this time is unforgettable. One thing that will stay with our history forever is the art that was left behind. Propaganda was one of the biggest art platforms during world war 2 and was used not only to influence but to manipulate the minds of people. Germany was one of the main countries that used propaganda severely during the war and Adolf Hitler’s intentions were very impactful to only the civilians during this time but what parties the propaganda was directed towards. Mostly all of the propaganda that was expressed during this time falls into degenerate art. This was created during the 1920’s when Hitler took control and his objective with degenerate art was his choices of what can be approved and shown to the people and this is what he called modern art. Throughout the art gallery you will see what each individual piece of propaganda and what it was projecting.
In the first propaganda picture you can see that the german party wants to express their patriotism for the nazi party. During World War two, Hitler wanted to show that Nazism was being spread through not only adults but the younger generation as well to show the impact it has on the people. It says “ German students fight for the fuhrer and the people”. When you look at the poster, you can see the many different colors the artists uses, Red and Black which are pretty dominant colors that is used throughout most of the propaganda because these colors do represent the nazi party. The type of art this is like I mentioned before is degenerate art. An aspect that falls into the category of degenerate art is that art only expresses the white male or the white race. The white male was not only expressed through the art but as well as the political side of the nazi party, showing how the white race is the dominant race.
The second propaganda picture is a family saluting the train that they see passing by. This picture is another representation of their pride of being a nazi. As you can see in the picture you can see the famous nazi salute sign these individuals are showing. Like I mentioned before the propaganda makes it clear it is nazi represented by not only adding the dominant colors but showing many symbols in the art. If you look closely at the picture you can see that it looks like a sketch in a sense. You can see many lines that look like it was sketched out as well as many shade marks that make it look like it was created by using lead.
The third propaganda picture that the nazi’s created out of the many hundreds they’ve created is expressing its enemy the soviet union. In the picture you see a german soldier destroying a red dragon with two lightning bolts. In this picture the nazi’s wanted to express their power and that they are much more powerful than their enemy the soviet union. You can see that the artist specifically made the characters more cartoon like to express over exaggeration. If you look closely at the dragon you can tell that the dragon looks powerless and weak compared to the soldier. Again you can see that the use of red and black is a very dominant color expressed.
The fourth propaganda picture is a family holding a child with nazi words displayed on the bottom of the poster. The words read, “The NDSP protects the people”. “Your fellow comrades need your advice and help, so join the local party organization”. The goal of the nazi party was to make the Jewish population extinct and in order to do that they need all the support of all the people. This poster is one example on how the nazi party wanted to manipulate the people and bring them into the party. Using the words “need your advice and help” can be a very manipulative tactic to lure people into the party. If you look at the picture you can see the dominant symbol of the eagle, they used this symbol to symbolize how powerful their nation is. The artist wanted to display this in my opinion was to show the people that their country is strong and powerful and no one can stop them, essentially giving them hope and pride.
The fifth propaganda picture you can say is a form of manipulation to other nations that were involved in world war two. You can see that the artist specifically made the art look very cartoon like to over exaggerate facial expressions and to make fun of the other nations. You can see in the picture that the two men in the picture are Winston Churchill and Stalin, both parties opposing Germany and its Nazi party. If you look at the picture you see that they want to make the opposing nations look weak in order to manipulate them and make the country see in that perspective because propaganda is a very influential piece of art. Both presidents look fearful of the nazi newspaper that flew in the window trying to express that these nations are weak and make Germany and the nazi party look powerful.