Description:
Political Illustration introduces students of illustration, visual communication, art, and political science to how political illustration works, when it's used and why.
Through a variety of examples - from the coins of Julius Caesar to contemporary art challenging Indigenous American stereotypes - the book covers propaganda, the impact of media, censorship, and taboo, and the role of contentious politics and dissent art. A wide range of contemporary illustration mediums are included, including street art, the graphic novel, and mixed assemblage illustration, in order to examine the role of media and technique in political messaging. The book features breakout interviews and case studies on prominent global political illustrators (like Edel Rodriguez, Anita Kunz and Fabian Williams) and full color examples. The authors include an introduction to semiotics, visual grammar, and visual communication theory, and how these approaches contribute to the decoding of political messages - and how these tactics are used by those ruling, and those being ruled.
- Japanese internment
- The World Wars
- The Soviet Union and China
- Dictatorships in Africa and South America
- Civil Rights movements
- Contemporary protests and marches, including the Women's March (2017) and the Egyptian Revolution (2011)
- ...and many more periods, events and movements
Brief description: Megan Hauser is a political scientist in the School of Government and International Affairs at Kennesaw State University, USA. Her research and publications focus on elections and electoral politics in Russia and Eastern Europe, including her 2019 book Elections under Authoritarianism. She teaches courses in Comparative Politics, International Relations, and American Government. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Review Quotes:
"A much-needed, substantive addition to the history of illustration." --Jonathan Cumberland, The University of Alabama, USA
"A primer for every artist and designer, this book is a timely and essential introduction to the power of images to communicate, and to the dynamics of power and protest inherent within all communication." --Fionnuala Doran, Edinburgh College of Art, UK