PROPAGANDA ANTINAZI PADA FOTO MONTASE KARYA JOHN HEARTFIELD DENGAN PENDEKATAN ANALISIS SEMIOTIKA

Abstract

This research focused on the relationship between art and social context, politic, and culture. The artwork is photomontages. Visualization on photomontage sometimes describe the social reality that emerged and developed at the era before World War II started. In Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung magazine which was a working class magazine during World War II there was one photomontage artist named John Heartfield who published his photomontages containing anti-Nazi propaganda. The purpose of this research was to determine the meaning of four photomontages by John Heartfield. The research method is carried out by observing and collecting data at the level of denotation and connotation with Roland Barthes' semiotic theory, as well as knowing how John Heartfield communicates propaganda through his works. The results of this research indicate that the photomontages of antiNazi propaganda by John Heartfield denotatively contains the meaning of criticism through visuals combining the figure of Adolf Hitler, Swastika, and goddess Themis with symbols based on ancient Europeans culture. In connotation, the meaning of criticism contained shows criticism of political and war crimes committed by the German people, from The Prussian Empire to The Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler.