Presentation of artists in illustrated press in the Agitprop cultural policy

Abstract

After the Second World War and in the period of reconstruction, requests for artists and their art, as well as views of the Communist Party on the issue, were very present in the Yugoslav press. Art, as a property of the people had to be adapted to the demands of time and should reflect, explain and document reality, in the form accessible and easily comprehensible to the ordinary man. Only in this way art was considered to be a fairly and influential actor in the raise of socio-political and ideological consciousness. Press as a mass medium, which includes narrative and visual content, was an ideal carrier of ideological messages. Artists and cultural workers and their art were presented in the press in accordance with the cultural policy of the period of reconstruction and tasks the First Five-Year Plan set to the artists. Tours of Russian artists followed the publication of photo-reportage in the press, and cover pages often presented paintings of the Soviet artists representing the themes from the October Revolution. In the early postwar years, showing of the local actors was conditioned by their film and educational role according to the current cultural policy. The conflict with the Cominform declined the Soviet cultural influence, which then dominated. Motives for presentation of the artist as deserving individuals were their successes abroad and matching of their artistic choices in a climate of socialist realism. The panoramic photo of the Louvre on the cover page of Duga magazine in 1950th symbolically marks the beginning of cultural and artistic cooperation with the countries of the Western Europe and the U.S., announcing a new cultural policy.