Connection Post: Propaganda

​Voroshilov skiing by Isaak Brodsky (1937)

              The first article talked about how an artist had his artwork lifted and photoshopped into ISIS propaganda. Brian McCarty was furious when he found out when they had stolen his work and broken the copyright laws. Eventually, it ended up that he would have been given money to compensate for the violation of his copyright, but he refused to be given any money that had to do with this terrorist group using his art for their own propaganda. I think this shows that some art can be manipulated into propaganda to bring about a certain message, or lead to misinterpretation in the end. For example, the "Charging Bull" on Wall street was misinterpreted by another artist who had challenged him with their own creation of the "Fearless Girl" statue.
          The second article is talking about whether or not the paintings made in the Social Realism cycle is propaganda or simply a part of Russian history. Some people say that is is propaganda, ""Socialist realism is nothing but an attempt to stuff intellectual or dogmatic objectives into art,” the British critic Herbert Read famously stated. Read compared the Soviet dislike of modernism to the conservative tastes of the Third Reich." However, many people claim that although these paintings did act as propaganda by sparking peoples nationalism and inspiration for the working class, it is simply a part of history. 
                  These two articles are very different in their forms of propaganda. The first shows the implementation of technology to convey an idea and to rise up in ranks and implement fear for their enemies, the other use realistic paintings to demonstrate the common people, or idols in Russia, to make people motivated to work harder, show more support, or bring the community together. Although I view Social Realism as propaganda in that time period, I think it also is simply a part of history in itself, much like all art and propaganda alike.