Featured Poster of the Week
"May 1st All-Russian Subbotnik". This iconic Soviet poster by the artist Dmitrii Moor calls on subbotnik ("Saturday Volunteer") workers in the period shortly after the October Revolution to help with public improvement jobs. Subbotnik workers were citizens or soldiers who labored without pay on the weekend. This poster was printed for the Moscow subbotnik of 1920 where Vladimir Lenin personally attended. Initially, subbotniks were sporadic local efforts (the first was in 1919) that helped boost moral and increase participation in the early days of the revolution. As time progressed, the subbotnik movement became ritualized. Assigned work was obligatory, jobs became mundane and even politically-motivated. Labor in the name of “the motherland” tended to only reward higher-echelons (party members, plant managers, etc.) who gained from all of the free productivity received on the day of the subbotnik.
About The Collection
Poster Plakat is a private collection of Soviet and Eastern Bloc political ephemera spanning 1916 to 1991. The collection contains over 1,000 original posters, poster maquettes and political leaflets from windowpane-sized posters up to large, multi-panel broadsides. Numerous artists are represented such as Gustav Klutsis, Victor Deni, Nikolai Dolgorukov, Vladimir Stenberg, the Kukryniksy, Viktor Koretsky, and hundreds more. All posters are linen backed and ready for display.
If you are interested in using images from the Collection or exhibiting posters from it, please visit the Contact Us page for more information. You can also email info@posterplakat.com and include the name of your organization, the name of the contact person and provide your phone number. In addition, please provide a general description of the exhibit you are considering or the poster you would like to use.