Throughout the history, art have been used in the most different situations to persuade the population and influence the beliefs and behaviors of every single person. A song, a picture, a sculpture, a building— every single object that can be a vehicle of communication and connection with a big group of people, was used by leaders among us to catch our attention and make the message connect with us and enter into our minds and our heart.    As Colin Moore says in his book Propaganda Prints, which I bought in The British Library shop, Art has been used to educate us, to mould our opinions, to confirm us in our nationhood and to persuade us of the existence of many gods, and is done is a way that can approach a group of 10 people or a group of 10 million people, depending on how far we want the message to be spread and how effective it is. The more effective is the message, the more people it reaches, because is spread through people and not only through the leaders.

I really love this topic and that's why I couldn't loose the opportunity to go to The British Library to see the exhibition, and all that I can say is that was perfect. From the conception until the posters chosen to exhibit and the way it was made to follow the history and the evolution of the propaganda through the decades. If by any chance this exhibition tours around UK or another countries, please go and see it because it worth it.

According to Colin Moore, propaganda exists even before the First World War, with Alexander the Great, presenting examples of his coins with his face, one of the many ideas to reach all of his empire and to encourage the cult around him. Continuing to the Middle Ages, with the Christianity taking over the empires with their messages and their symbols. Symbols that still reach millions of people and create strong impact in their lives. Moving forward, we cross the Early Modern Period and with it new ways to use propaganda and new printing methods—the movable type—, spreading the word in a fastest and efficient way, changing completely this art and its concept. This new printing method played an extremely important role during the events that happened during the 18th century—The Age of the Enlightenment—giving their contribute to a revolution and a break from the absolutism and the old ideas, to new ideas of liberty and increasing of the literacy, expanding the role of the propaganda and the public opinion, specially through the satirical cartoons.

Stepping into the 19th century, propaganda kept changing and evolving and consequently  the new printing methods, like the lithography, and let me tell you, with this method emerged the most beautiful posters and new topics to advertise, like commercial products and entertainments. Contrary to the earlier periods where all the posters were black and white and only with typography or image, in the end of the 19th century, the streets started to decorated with amazing posters full of vibrant colors and female models dancing and creating rhythm in the streets, catching all the attentions to them like there was a gallery in the street. Jules Chéret and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec were one of the main responsibles and breakthrough artists of this new art of propaganda.

Arriving at the First Wold War period, we can see the propaganda continues to play an important role to reach the masses, but this time with different intentions as before. the propaganda of this time brought countries into the war, recruited men to be part of it and encouraged women to send them too, but also kept the ones who stayed at home informed of what was happening, through the war correspondents that were transmitting information almost every day.

In the 20th century, other revolutions had the propaganda as an important ally on their sides, like the Mexican and the Russian revolution. Who doesn't know the famous poster of El Lissitzy Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, to describe the situation that was happening at that time —a civil war between the Red Army with the counter-revolutionary forces to instal the Marxist ideology in the Russian population. And due to the huge number of illiterate people, the propaganda and the artists had important to roles at that time, to create clear messages with simple colors and elements, but that would shout their message to all Russia, so everybody could understand.

Propaganda always had a very important role during war times, not only to "convert" people but also to inform and lead to good practices and habits. And during the Second World War was no different. The posters were not used to make the men enlist into the Army and fight for their country, but also to make women, and the ones who stayed at home, to grow food and to work in the industrial factories to maintain the productive capacity and morale of the countries. But, as I read in another book, Meggs's History of Graphic Design     , the posters were also used to make countries hate each other by pictures of terrible events that happened at that time, but also to praise all the men that fought in the war and make them heroes of the country, so giving them strength to continue fighting and win the war.