How political can a flower show or advertisements for radios be? From product advertising to propaganda, posters were used in numerous ways in the Third Reich. A seminar with students from the Institute for Art and Visual History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is examining the visual strategies of German advertising posters from 1933 to 1945.

The seminar is based on the study of the original posters. Participants have viewed, classified, analysed and discussed 100 posters from the National Socialist period – part of a collection of around one thousand objects in the Graphic Design Collection at the Kunstbibliothek (Art Library) – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. A selection of around forty posters is being researched in greater depth and the findings presented in an digital exhibition in accordance with standard museum practice. The research project examines aspects dealt with in the images, including the body, gender, health, and concepts of the enemy, as well as the posters’ acquisition circumstances and individual provenances.

Seminar Management: Prof Dr Charlotte Klonk, Dr Christina Thomson
Scholarship: Jana Hüttenmeister, Lea Küster, Luisa Mann, Helen Raimann, Leonie Rösler, Julian Rümenapf, Yves Tronnier, Felix Vollmar
Cooperation Partner: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Duration: November 2021 – 18 February 2022