The Reality of Occupation. Posters in Lithuania during World War Two and World War One.
The publication is a follow-up to the exhibitions of posters of the two world wars, held at the Vilnius Graphic Art Centre in April–May 2014. The show was intended to commemorate the 100th anniversary of WWI. The art historians Giedrė Jankevičiūtė and Laima Laučkaitė Surgailienė present a consistent overview of the 20th century war posters circulated in the public domain at the time, dividing them into three main thematic groups: political, social and cultural. The catalogue is the result of the collaborative effort between professionals and institutions of various fields.
According to Vytautas Ališauskas, a philosopher and cultural historian, ‘the catalogue gives a third life to these posters. In their primary life, they hung out in the streets, threatening or uplifting for a short while, simply giving information or warning, before they ended their days smudged, torn and pasted over with new posters. At the exhibition, the restored and elegantly framed posters became aesthetic objects. Finally, in the catalogue they exist as subjects of research: introductory texts and analytical commentaries place them in the reality of the war, link then with propaganda strategies, provide additional information about analogous, but not published posters. Also, a welcome novelty is a kind of appendix to the catalogue – the transcript of the discussion that took place at the exhibition.’
Title: The Reality of Occupation. Posters in Lithuania during World War Two and World War One.
Compilers of the publication and authors of texts: Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, Laima Laučkaitė-Surgailienė
Designer: Gedas Čiuželis
Publisher: Vilnius Graphic Art Centre
Year of publishing: 2014
Number of pages: 229
Print run: 300
ISBN 978-9955-796-07-7
Book covers: paperback
Languages: Lithuanian, English
