'In Struggle United': John Heartfield, Aleksandr Zhitomirsky and Political Photomontage after the 1930s

• In Event: Reconsidering the Legacy of German-Soviet Cultural Relations

Abstract

This presentation examines the creative interactions and friendship of the preeminent German communist artist John Heartfield (1891-1968) and the younger Soviet artist Aleksandr Zhitomirsky (1907-1993). While much attention has been given to the impact of Heartfield’s political photomontages on Soviet cultural debates of the 1930s, the continuing resonance of his radical mass media art practice within Soviet WW2 and Cold War propaganda has been largely overlooked.

Author

• Erika Wolf, U of Otago (New Zealand)