Posters of the Cold War

The poster was a key medium in the Cold War, used to produce both fear and loyalty at home and abroad. Posters of the Cold War surveys poster design from the late 1940s when the Iron Curtain was drawn across Europe to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Featuring over seventy designs by some of the leading artists and graphic designers of the period including Pablo Picasso, Grapus Design Collective and Peter Kennard, posters have been selected from twenty countries to demonstrate the wide international reach of the conflict. David Crowley teaches history at the Royal College of Art, London. He has published many articles and books on the history of graphic design and is a specialist on the culture of Eastern Europe in the twentieth century. He is the consultant curator of Cold War Modern, a major V&A exhibition.