World War II Poster Art: Weapons on the Wall

Author: Fan Dapeng Dai Bing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Dear reader friend, when you think of war, what comes to mind? Is it a battlefield filled with smoke, blood, and flesh, or a devastated wasteland? Is it an orphan crying over his mother's body, or a flood of refugees displaced by war? In any case, it's hard to associate it with the artistic expressions—such as painting, music, and film—that humans typically use to convey positive emotions. However, during World War II, over 60 years ago, artists from the warring nations also plunged into that brutal struggle between humans. Many of them even took up weapons, moving through the crossfire, pouring their true feelings onto their canvases, and thus created numerous vivid and emotionally moving posters, cartoons, and other artworks. Meanwhile, some versatile frontline soldiers also painted images or wrote words on their beloved weapons, such as airplanes, that could express their personal feelings and strong desires. This is what we see in this series of "Military Art Books"—World War II posters, World War II cartoons, and World War II aircraft paintings. Through them, readers can re-examine World War II from a new perspective—the art of war—and, while feeling the emotional impact and shock it brings, experience the fierce struggle between justice and evil.
Posters, also known as advertisements, are promotional materials posted in streets or public places, typically consisting of images and text. In 1798, the invention of lithographic printing technology brought posters onto the historical stage. However, early posters were relatively small in size and had limited print runs. The rapid development of modern industry and commerce in Western capitalist countries in the mid-to-late 19th century led to the birth and growth of modern posters, which were primarily commercial in nature and could be mass-produced and widely posted. The French artist Jules Chéret, hailed as the "Father of Modern Poster Art," designed the first true modern poster in 1858. His works skillfully combined classical painting styles with contemporary popular aesthetics, and through mass reproduction using modern printing technology, they were posted on city walls and recognized and accepted by the public. Many famous European artists followed suit, and modern posters began to spread across the European continent and American towns.