 Trade In this Item for up to £2.75
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in North Korean Posters: The David Heather Collection for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.75, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
The Times, May 10th, 2008
"...insights into probably the most secretive country in the world."
Product Description
This rare glimpse into North Korean society is the first book of its kind: a riveting collection of state-sponsored propaganda posters that presents the unique graphic sensibilities of this little-known country. Seldom seen by the outside world, North Korea s propaganda art colors the cities and countryside with vibrant images of brave soldiers, happy and well-fed peasants, and a heroic and compassionate leader. More than 250 of these posters are collected here for the first time, showing the wide range of North Korean propaganda art. Hand-painted pieces of art, these posters display the latest political slogans that are repeated in newspaper editorials, government declarations, and compulsory study sessions throughout the country. A collection that will appeal to artists and graphic designers as well as those interested in this closed society, this book may not represent the reality of North Korea, but rather a vision of the country as promoted by its regime and depicted by its state-sponsored artists.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
To quote from Koen De Ceuster in the book's intro: 'Only if the poster appeals to the ideological and aesthetic sentiments of the people will it succeed in truly rousing the people'. The cynical might conclude because the people were not truly roused by these posters is a good enough reason to explain why the economy of the DPRK is in such a ramshackle state and not likely to improve in the coming years.
The 250 reproduced are pretty lackluster in their creativity. This becomes apparent when compared to Soviet Posters (published by Prestel in 2007 and the same size and format) though admittedly they developed over several decades and had the benefit of talent like Lissitzky, Govorkov and Rodchenko to create political masterpieces. With a closed society like North Korea where creativity emanated from the two Kims should anyone expect anything better.
Despite a sameness to many of the images some do stand out. A poster on page 233 is an interesting painting of four horsemen with flags, riding into the future (where else!). As with so many posters shown the groupings are the same: a soldier; woman farmer; steel worker; intellectual. The painting style looks quite contemporary though. On page 251 a diesel engine done in a very graphic style with the side of the unit incorporating bold type, the poster headline is in the same perspective as the engine. There are no dates or artists mentioned in any of the captions and looking through the pages I get the impression that maybe the bulk of the posters were created by a small group of artists and designers.
There is a chapter called Undeterred Defiance, with forty-five works hurling abuse and dire consequences at the US and some of these look several decades old. Covering the Korean war, the capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968 and a US helicopter incident in 1994. These last two events, very minor in the scheme of things but as they are the only two incidents where the US directly affected North Korea their importance is exaggerated enormously.
The book is identical to the Soviet Posters I've mentioned. The same 288 pages, colour throughout, in 150 screen and also the same annoyance of having all the captions and page numbers sideways on each page (so four stars) but I thought the Soviet book's contents far more interesting. With two books covering the same subject I wonder if Prestel will extend the idea to Cuban, Polish and East German political posters?
The 250 reproduced are pretty lackluster in their creativity. This becomes apparent when compared to Soviet Posters (published by Prestel in 2007 and the same size and format) though admittedly they developed over several decades and had the benefit of talent like Lissitzky, Govorkov and Rodchenko to create political masterpieces. With a closed society like North Korea where creativity emanated from the two Kims should anyone expect anything better.
Despite a sameness to many of the images some do stand out. A poster on page 233 is an interesting painting of four horsemen with flags, riding into the future (where else!). As with so many posters shown the groupings are the same: a soldier; woman farmer; steel worker; intellectual. The painting style looks quite contemporary though. On page 251 a diesel engine done in a very graphic style with the side of the unit incorporating bold type, the poster headline is in the same perspective as the engine. There are no dates or artists mentioned in any of the captions and looking through the pages I get the impression that maybe the bulk of the posters were created by a small group of artists and designers.
There is a chapter called Undeterred Defiance, with forty-five works hurling abuse and dire consequences at the US and some of these look several decades old. Covering the Korean war, the capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968 and a US helicopter incident in 1994. These last two events, very minor in the scheme of things but as they are the only two incidents where the US directly affected North Korea their importance is exaggerated enormously.
The book is identical to the Soviet Posters I've mentioned. The same 288 pages, colour throughout, in 150 screen and also the same annoyance of having all the captions and page numbers sideways on each page (so four stars) but I thought the Soviet book's contents far more interesting. With two books covering the same subject I wonder if Prestel will extend the idea to Cuban, Polish and East German political posters?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an interesting book of 250 posters similar in many ways to Soviet and Chinese posters but much more agressive in content.
There are 5 concepts illustrated a)constructing the country b)defying enemies c)loyalty and devotion d)defence and e)loyalty The paintings are quite good and very expressive although rapetative at times.
On page 15 the author states that portraits of the Kims have not been produced,this is incorrect as I was presented with one showing both Kims on a visit to Pyongyang but I no longer have it.
A very annoying feature of the book is that captions to the posters are orinted vertically at the side of the page consequentially the book has to be turned to read them.
There are 5 concepts illustrated a)constructing the country b)defying enemies c)loyalty and devotion d)defence and e)loyalty The paintings are quite good and very expressive although rapetative at times.
On page 15 the author states that portraits of the Kims have not been produced,this is incorrect as I was presented with one showing both Kims on a visit to Pyongyang but I no longer have it.
A very annoying feature of the book is that captions to the posters are orinted vertically at the side of the page consequentially the book has to be turned to read them.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The posters themselves are very good and very interesting but the presentation of the book itself is a little frustrating. As the other reviews have mentioned, the captions (the translations of the slogans) are inexplicably written vertically along the side of each poster - which means you have to turn the book on it's side twice on every double page spread. As you can imagine, that can get pretty tedious. I would have also like a bit more detail with the translations. The captions are only translations of the slogans - this means that other text in the posters (Korean characters on flags or on books featured within the pictures) are left untranslated which isn't helpful for people who don't speak Korean. Another extremely poor oversight is the fact that none of the posters are dated (unless there's actually a date within the art - which accounts for about 5 posters in total). The collection as a whole are posters from 1950 to the present day but that is very broad and seeing as we aren't given dates of when the posters were first designed or published we cannot put them in the correct context. I'd recommend this book to only the most avid and interested North Korea watchers but even those people will find it lacking in a few fundamental areas.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
