Essay Sample on Hitler as Savior: Mjolnir's 1932 German Election Poster

Introduction

This poster was created by Mjolnir and was used in the 1932 German presidential elections. The modernism art era. During this time, the Germans were suffering through the great depression. This poster targeted the German people who were unemployed and were surviving on the breadline and offered Hitler as their savior. The artist uses his posters also instigate that the negative environment of the Germans was brought about by the Jews.

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The poster comprises people who are unhappy, unsatisfied, and desolate facing the viewer. The artist includes silhouettes of men, women, and children in the people to indicate that the terrible conditions are affecting all people. The artist used back pencil shading to draw the silhouettes. The dark color is essential as it highlights the dark times that the Germans were going through during the depression. The dark shading also attracted the people to view the poster and reminded them that everyone was suffering a similar predicament. However, Mjolnir used white shading to inscribe "Our Last Hope: Hitler" in German. This inscription was essential as it gave the people hope that there was a way out of their problems. Similarly, the white inscription was a stark contrast to the dark shading as it illuminated the viewers that Hitler was there to save the people, and upon an ascension into power, all of the problems that the people were experiencing would disappear. According to the poster, Hitler was the proverbial light at the end of the dark tunnel.

Mjolnir was the leading artist behind all the campaigns that were launched by Hitler. The artist was responsible for creating posters that would mold the people's behavior and opinions using his art designs. This poster is full of propaganda as it capitalizes on the emotional deception as well as immorality to prey on the people who desperately wanted to escape their living conditions. The poster was powerful and effective in convincing the people that Hitler would deliver them from their problems if they voted for him. With the support of Hitler, Mjolnir molded the opinions of the Germans as the media mold the opinions of the people today. The result was the election of Hitler as the president, as well as the massacre of the Jews who were assumed to be the source of problems for the people in Germany. This propaganda was useful as it preyed on the people who were starving, unemployed, and desperate enough to do anything to escape poverty with the false hope that they would benefit from Hitler's ascension into power. The poster convinced the people that the people would not starve as long as Hitler was the leader.

Comparison

Art is an essential aspect of life that has the extreme ability to reinforce the existing structures. Furthermore, art in culture has the capacity to mold the consciousness of the people to either conform or rebel against an existing structure. Papadopoulou and Veneti note that art can play two roles in regards to establishing a political system. For one, art has the power to enforce ideology by communicating specific values to the people. On the other hand, since art is a part of the culture, it can have a direct influence on the behavior as well as the thinking of people, which is an aspect that can be used to either build or weaken existing structures in the society.

Although both the portrait of Anne of Austria and the poster of "Our Last Hope: Hitler" was created to convey propaganda messages, the method of communication used by the forms of art was different. For instance, Anne of Austria attempts to sway the ideologies of the French people by creating a self-portrait of herself emblazoned with the symbol of France as a representation of its queen even though she was neither French nor queen at the time of the portraits. According to Jowett, the adoption of specific dressing codes was primary propaganda as they attempted to use the symbolic devices. The use of the national colors, such as those employed by Anne in her portrait, was often used to sway the masses into considering her as part of the French. On the contrary, the poster used art to directly influence the behavior as well as the thinking of the Germans so that they vote for Hitler. The artist capitalized on the visual presentation of the current situation as well as what Hitler promised in order to influence the people to vote for him. Williams commented that the Nazis were very attentive to the importance and opportunities provided by the presence of propaganda in any design. As a result, the outcome of most of the art favored the strengthening of the Nazi regime.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the art propaganda presented in the modernism era was more effective in delivering messages as compared to the Renaissance period as they focused more on swaying the thinking of the people instead of imposing ideologies. The art in the modernism era contributed to numerous revolutions.

Bibliography

Jowett, Garth. "Propaganda, Visual Communication of." The International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008. doi:10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecp110.

Norton Simon Museum. "Portrait of Anne of Austria, Queen of France." Accessed March 21, 2020. https://www.nortonsimon.org/art/detail/F.1965.1.059.P.

Papadopoulou, Iliana, and Anastasia Veneti. Committed Art and Propaganda. Annual PSA Conference, Leeds, 2005.

Ravenswaay, Gabrielle C. "Subjects of the Gaze: Rubens and his Female Portraits." STARS - Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship at UCF. Last modified 2017. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1180&context=honorstheses.

Ross, Sheryl T. "Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art." Journal of Aesthetic Education 36, no. 1 (2002), 16. doi:10.2307/3333623.

Stokoe, Claire. "51 Powerful Propaganda Posters And The People Behind - Smashing Magazine." Smashing Magazine. Last modified June 13, 2010. https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/100-years-of-propaganda-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/.

Williams, Holly. "Power to the Pictures: The Evolution of Propaganda." The Independent. Last modified October 23, 2010. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/power-to-the-pictures-the-evolution-of-propaganda-2075321.html.