Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik government was faced with the task of swaying a largely illiterate population to its side in the resulting Russian Civil War and beyond. Posters proved to be an ideal medium to deliver their message using bold and striking designs with minimum text. The imagery clearly distinguished the ‘bad guys’ from the ‘good guys’ and instructed the people on what to do and how to fight the enemy. As the country established itself, poster art grew more sophisticated and the government further developed this means of propaganda art and the print runs increased. Due to this proven effectiveness, the Soviet Union became one of the few countries where artists were specifically trained as poster designers.
The unique combination of striking artwork, powerful imagery and important social history makes these posters of great interest to collectors. A growth in nostalgia and reconciliation with the country’s past is resulting in more demand for high-end posters from the Soviet Union’s early 1917-1939 period as well as the more affordable period from the 1960s to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.