In a small room next to the entrance of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, there are a group of items on display that some might not expect to find in a museum.
These pieces of art are not sculptures by Degas or paintings by Picasso, though both are on dsplay in other parts of the museum. No, displayed on the walls of this room are propaganda posters collected during the time of the first and second World Wars.
One of these posters depicts three children, two boys and a girl, cowering in fear as a shadow in the shape of the nazi swastika looms over them from above. They are in the light spaces created by the crooks of the swastikas arms, but the shadow is close. The caption reads, "Don't let that shadow touch them."
Another shows a stoic-looking soldier, head wrapped in a bandage like the Civil War soldiers of even earlier times. This one states, "Doing all you can, brother? Buy war bonds."
One cannot help but notice the parralels to our present condition of hard economic times and long periods of war, though the messages are not as obvious today as they were then.
"I think it's so interesting to see this history, and how close it is to what's happening now. That poster about saving your waste fats for explosives could be how recycling started," said Andria Rothenberg, a 20-year-old CSUN student.
"Its very topical," said Mary Lynn, another museum patron and mother of two.
The exhibit will be on display through January 2009.
Link to current exhibitions page: http://www.nortonsimon.org/exhibitions.aspx?id=6#1060
No comments:
Post a Comment