Posters

In number, this collection comprises about 2,200 items and has great thematic variety, illuminating the cultural, artistic, economic, political and ideological, sporting, scientific, festive and spiritual life of the country. A significant group consists of propaganda materials, among which one can see leaflets reflecting the course of events of the Civil War of 1917–1920 and of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, and leaflets informing about the contribution of Soviet people to the development of industry, agriculture, science and culture.

The “Posters, Slogans” group in the museum’s collection numbers more than 5,500 items and in subject matter is directly connected with the political and ideological life of the country.

Among the collection of posters, political posters issued during particular historical stages of the 20th century stand out. For example, among the posters of the 1920s–1940s whole series stand out that called for the struggle against imperialism, bourgeois manifestations and the German fascist invaders, called for partisan and underground struggle and for sabotage of work in production during the occupation, and for tireless struggle to complete victory; there are also posters of political satire. Posters of the 1950s were aimed at raising the morale of the population for the rebuilding of the state and carried political slogans calling on the people to take part in elections, to develop the virgin lands and to speed up the country’s economic development. The subjects of the posters of the 1960s–1980s are presented in the context of the industrial boom, construction, scientific achievements, space research, elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and so on. The political poster was influenced by the state’s foreign policy, in particular the Cold War.

In the 1990s and early 21st century the subject of the poster gradually moves away from the political ideology of the Soviet state, and posters of a new type appear: advertising posters.

Poster graphics, which appeared in the mid-19th century, initially took shape as a kind of commercial and theatre advertising (playbills), and later began to serve the tasks of political propaganda (posters).

Playbills in the collection of the Kharkiv Historical Museum belong to the “Playbills, Programmes” group. For a museum of a historical profile, a playbill is interesting in itself for its informative content. The group is a complex of playbills with a chronological span from the early 19th century to the present. In number this group comprises about 2,200 items, but it has wide thematic limits that cover the cultural, artistic, economic, political and ideological, sporting, scientific, festive and spiritual life of the country.

Let us consider the playbills in chronological order by decade, divided into the pre-Soviet period and the period after 1917. In this way we can identify the link between the number of items belonging to a particular period and their content and the significance of the events for public life.

Most items in the collection belong to the pre-Soviet period and to the 1970s–1980s. Pre-revolutionary playbills are devoted to the activity of theatres and clubs and to concerts, tours, conferences, competitions, evenings and anniversary celebrations. For example, the collection includes: a playbill of 1906 for a production of “Martyn Borulia” by the Society of Ukrainian Artists led by A. K. Saksahanskyi; a playbill of 1903 for the fourth exhibition of paintings by Kharkiv artists, opened in the building of the Nobility Assembly on Mykolaiv Square; and a playbill of events for the opening of S. V. Hryzodubov’s aeroplane, July 1910.

In the 1970s–1980s the subjects of playbills change somewhat. Besides playbills that reflect the development of the country’s cultural life, we see playbills with an ideological bent. This is explained by the influence of state ideology on the spiritual development of Soviet society, as can be seen from the playbill of the Illich Palace of Culture of the Kharkiv Rope Plant for a street holiday, “Labour in the Name of Peace on Earth!” (1973), the playbill “Art and Labour Live Side by Side!” (1976), the playbill of the Artem Park of Culture and Recreation “The Soviet Family Holiday” (1980), and the playbill of a lecture series “Animal Husbandry – the Shock Front” (1981).

Playbills of the 1920s and 1940s are the least represented in the collection of the Kharkiv Historical Museum. This is due to the political life and historical events on the territory of the USSR. In this period playbills of performances by front-line ensembles, of political figures who promoted new principles of ideological thinking, and of conferences devoted to post-war reconstruction become characteristic. Examples are the playbill of the Comintern State Cinema for “The Hygiene of Marriage”, shown in Ukraine for the first time (1920s), the playbill of the play “The Keys of Berlin” by the Leninogorsk Russian Drama Theatre (1942), and the playbill of the play “Behind the Second Front” by the Taras Shevchenko Kharkiv Drama Theatre (1944).

Playbills of the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1990s and early 21st century are represented in the collection evenly. The subject matter of items from this period is impressive: cultural, scientific, theatre, exhibition and sports playbills, playbills of tours and film premieres, playbills devoted to solemn events and dates of national importance, and playbills of concerts and conferences devoted to meetings of representatives of twin cities. For example: the playbill of the Shevchenko Theatre for March, a solemn evening for the 100th anniversary of the death of M. Hohol; the playbill of the Palace of Culture of the “Svitlo Shakhtaria” plant for a film festival devoted to the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia; the playbill “Animal Husbandry – the Shock Front”, which gives the topics of lectures of the “Znannia” society for rural workers of Kharkiv Oblast; and the playbill for the opening of the Cincinnati Days in Kharkiv in May 1995.

At the present stage, graphic art gains new possibilities opened to it by the development of printing, and new conditions are created for the emergence of new kinds of graphic art in the future. Playbills complement a display with their information and with their images, created through particular artistic means, reflecting the development of the cultural, political, scientific and spiritual life of the country during specific chronological periods of history.

The “Posters, Slogans” group, compared with the number of the previous groups of items, is considerably larger and comprises more than 5,500 items. In subject matter the posters are directly connected with the political and ideological life of the country and have a political orientation strongly expressed by artistic means.

The most interesting posters in terms of subject belong to the 1920s–1940s. Whole series of posters were issued at that time that called for the struggle against imperialism, bourgeois manifestations and the German fascist invaders, called for partisan and underground struggle and for sabotage of work in production during the occupation, and for tireless struggle to complete victory; there were also posters of political satire and more. Examples of such posters are: “The Growth of the Revolutionary Upswing on the Eve of October 1917”, “Cultural Construction in the Five-Year Plan of the USSR. 1929”, “Destroy the Enemy – Protect Collective Farm Property! 1941–1945”, “Long Live Our Victorious Soviet Army 1918–1948” and the poster “The Museum of the Beaten. Whoever Comes to Us with the Sword Shall Perish by the Sword. A. Nevsky” (by the artists Kukryniksy), 1940s.

In the 1950s the political poster was aimed at raising the morale of the population for the rebuilding of the state and carried political slogans calling on the people to take part in elections, to develop the virgin lands, to speed up the country’s economic development and so on. For example: “We Are the Young Masters of the Earth! 1958” and “Long Live the Union of Workers and Peasants, the Basis of Soviet Power! 1954”.

In the 1960s–1980s the subjects of the poster were presented in the context of the industrial boom, construction, scientific achievements, space research, elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and so on. The political poster was influenced by the state’s foreign policy, in particular the Cold War. Examples of posters of the time are: “Two Lines of Economic Development. The Volume of Industrial Production in the USSR, the People’s Democracies and the Capitalist Countries, 1953”, “The Dnipro Works for Communism! 1960”, “Preserving Peace Is Dearer to Us Than Anything! 1964”, a poster devoted to the link between science and industry (1971), “Glory to the Soviet Army 1974”, “Improve the Quality of Harvest Work! The Best Inspector in the Field Is the Conscience of the Grain-Grower Machine Operator! 1981” and “Our Soviet State Is Strong in Fraternal Unity. 1982”.

In the 1990s and early 21st century the subject of the poster gradually moves away from the political ideology of the Soviet state (the poster “Ukraine–Referendum. 1991”), and posters of a new type appear: advertising posters, for example “Advertisement of the Kharkiv Industrial Association FED. 1990” and “Advertisement of the Salamandra Insurance Joint-Stock Company on insurance of children up to 18 years. 1993”. Poster graphics, as always, responded to painful subjects of society, and posters appeared devoted to the anniversaries of the tragedy at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant (1986) and to the memory of the victims of the Holodomor of 1932–1933: “No Nature, No Man! 1990”, “SOS! SOS! SOS! 1990” and “Holodomor 1932–1933… the Kremlin’s Greatest Crime… 1993”.

From what has been said, we see that the poster conveyed the spirit of the era very vividly and depended on the ideological and political course of the state as a whole. In display practice, posters play an important role, reflecting state policy, including events connected with the creation of the independent Ukrainian state.