In May Imagethief had a chance to get together with Chinese propaganda poster expert, Prof. Dr. Stefan Landsberger of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Stefan literally wrote the book on Chinese propaganda posters (it's no longer available new, but he kindly sent Imagethief a copy, for which I am grateful) and runs a great online archive of them.

Stefan is currently participating in the establishment of another online archive at www.chineseposters.net. While its collection isn't yet as comprehensive as Stefan's original site, it features some choice materials, the scans are larger and more supplemental information and thematic galleries are being added.


"A justified noose awaits them!" Imagethief is a fan of Korean War
era material, much of which depicts MacArthur as a ghoul. Note the
comprehensive catalog of atrocities. From Chineseposters.net.

Chineseposters.net is also supporting a museum exhibition of the original posters. Unfortunately (for us in Beijing) it's in Rotterdam, but for any Imagethief readers who may be in The Netherlands between now and September 21:

Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Address: Museumpark, Westzeedijk 341, 3015 AA Rotterdam
Opening hours: Tuesday till Saturday 10am-5pm, Sundays and Holidays 11am-5pm
For more information: www.kunsthal.nl.

Finally, Stefan is currently seeking examples of propaganda posters related to the recent Wenchuan Earthquake. Imagethief owes him a favor, so if any readers --especially Beijing-based ones-- know where such can be obtained, please let me know. Meanwhile, you can browse posters from the 1970s quakes at at his site:

 

"Earthquakes don't frighten us. The people
will surely vanquish nature."

See also:

China Visual's earthquake poster design competition (δΈ­) for contemporary earthquake posters.