Erika Wolf – författare

The first comprehensive study in English of the Soviet propaganda artist Aleksandr Zhitomirsky, who conceived and deployed his striking photomontages as a political weaponThe leading Russian propaganda artist Aleksandr Zhitomirsky (1907–1993) made photomontages that were airdropped on German troops during World War II. He later worked for Pravda and other leading publications, satirizing American politics and finance from the Truman through the Reagan eras and educating his public about Egypt, South Africa, Vietnam, and Nicaragua as well. Zhitomirsky favored the grotesque and the eye-catching. His villainous menagerie included Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels as a distorted simian and an airborne scorpion outfitted with an Uncle Sam hat.  In this comprehensive, image-driven account of Zhitomirsky’s long career, Erika Wolf explores his connections to and long friendship with the German artist John Heartfield, whose work inspired his own. Wolf also examines more than 100 of Zhitomirsky’s photomontages and translates excerpts from his one published book, The Art of Political Photomontage: Advice for the Artist (1983). In an era when satirical photomontage thrives on the Internet and propaganda has reasserted itself in America and Russia alike, this study of a once-prominent yet internationally undiscovered artist is more than timely.Distributed for the Art Institute of ChicagoExhibition Schedule:Art Institute of Chicago (09/03/16–01/10/17)

Viktor Koretsky (1909–1998) was a leading Soviet artist and the acknowledged master of the Soviet photographic poster. With a long and prolific career that spanned the early Stalin era through to the onset of Glasnost, Koretsky produced some of the most memorable images of World War II and the Cold War from the point of view of the USSR.The first comprehensive catalogue of Koretsky’s work in any language, this stunning and richly illustrated album provides an essential introduction to the major examples of Koretsky’s artistic output, including posters, original designs, and other political graphics. An introductory essay by noted art historian Erika Wolf provides a fascinating general overview of the Soviet political poster, situating Koretsky’s work historically, politically, and artistically. The core of the volume is a series of two hundred full-color plates, each accompanied by a concise commentary that clarifies its significance; arranged chronologically, these works of political propaganda art brilliantly record the shifting political and artistic circumstances of the distinctive eras of their production&mdas;the first Five-Year Plan, World War II, Postwar Stalinism, the Thaw, the Brezhnev era, and the twilight of Soviet authoritarian culture.Richly annotated with related primary source quotations, a chronology, and a glossary of Soviet culture, Koretsky is a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of this influential and little-understood artist.