Russia USSR 1923 "Baby Dummies" A. Rodchenko Original 1970's Poster for Sale

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Russia USSR 1923 "Baby Dummies" A. Rodchenko Original 1970's Poster For Sale

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Russia USSR 1923 "Baby Dummies" A. Rodchenko Original 1970's Poster:
$150.00

Russia USSR "Baby Dummies" Alexander RodchenkoOriginal 1970's Poster
Shipped in poster tube.

“Baby Dummies” created by Alexander Rodchenko and Vladimir Mayakovsky in 1923, was a unique propaganda poster in the style of an advertisement for dummies for children. Rodchenko, a Russian artist, and Mayakovsky, a Russian and futurist poet, worked together through 1923–28 during the recovery of the Soviet Republic after WW1 and the civil war.

The verse by Mayakovsky roughly translates to “There are no better dummies. Suck them ’til old age. Sold everywhere”. This verse sounds very blunt and sharp for an advert for a baby product, which is unusual as you would normally see nursery rhymes or soft verses instead. This helps to convey the idea that it isn’t actually an advert but in fact a propaganda poster instead.

This poster was created in a futuristic and cubist style, which was revolutionary at the time, and came together to help create a movement called Constructivism, created in Russia, of which Rodchenko was a big part of, along with Vladimir Tatlin, the founder.

The actual poster joined the abundance of propaganda posters being made in Russia at the time, but was so unlike other typical pro-war posters. “Baby Dummies” features a cubist style baby made from simple shapes and sharply divided colours. The baby is featured with grenade pins and bullet shells in its mouth, and rolled back eyes and sharp pointed fingers, which gives it a really grotesque and grim look/feel.

This poster is the opposite to other posters of its time, as many typical posters feature normal looking people, usually a woman or a woman and a baby, both of them crying, suggesting that the men should join the army to fight for their families. The “demonic baby-of-war”, with its grenades and bullets in its smiling mouth suggest that the baby is happy to be fed the ‘nutrients’ of war. It suggests the idea that the wars in Russia are creating these monster children, who are becoming insensitive to the ideas of violence and death, and the poster is so clearly against the idea of war.

Another idea is that the grenades in the child’s mouth symbolise that the Russians are being silenced by the war, as it takes away their chance to speak out for themselves. This poster is a huge criticism of war.

Rodchenko was a big supporter of the Russian Revolution and was a leading Bolshovik artist, but he became disappointed in what the revolution was becoming and of what his superiors were supporting, and he expressed this in his poster. The purpose of this poster was to express his views and disappointment in the Revolution he had supported for so long. It was a political gesture and statement, and I think through its differences in the typical posters of its time, it works really well to get a reaction from people.