Repository logo
 

Propaganda on the Margins: Bruno Schulz's Soviet Illustrations, 1940–41

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

No Thumbnail Available

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Stanley Bill 

Abstract

In 2016, Ukrainian historians uncovered a previously unknown set of propaganda illustrations produced by the Polish-Jewish writer and artist Bruno Schulz (1892-1942) for the Soviet newspaper Bil’shovit͡s’ka Pravda (Bolshevik Truth) in 1940-41 during the occupation of eastern Poland. This article presents the first comprehensive interpretations of the newly discovered materials in their social, political and historical contexts. The article uses a range of contextual evidence and interpretive approaches to argue that the illustrations represented a type of artistic mimicry, as Schulz resituated himself in new social and political circumstances. The article also argues that Schulz may have included subversive content in some of the illustrations.

Description

Keywords

47 Language, Communication and Culture, 43 History, Heritage and Archaeology, 44 Human Society

Journal Title

The Slavonic and East European Review

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0037-6795

Volume Title

96

Publisher

Project MUSE