Russian Telegraph Agency

Russian Telegraph Agency (Russian: Российское телеграфное агентство, Rossiyskoye telegrafnoye agentstvo), abbr. ROSTA, was the state news agency in Soviet Russia (1918-35). After the creation of Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union in 1925, it remained the news agency of Soviet Russia. Its name was associated with Rosta windows (Russian: Окна Роста, Okna Rosta).

Agitprop poster by Mayakovsky

Rosta windows

Rosta windows or satirical Rosta windows (Russian: Окна сатиры Роста, Okna satiry Rosta) were stencil-replicated propaganda posters created by artists and poets within the Rosta system, under the supervision of the Chief Committee of Political Education during 1919-21. Inheriting the Russian design traditions of lubok and rayok, the main topics were current political events. They were usually displayed in windows, hence the name.

The first Rosta window was created in Moscow by Mikhail Cheremnykh (1890-1962). He was soon joined by Vladimir Mayakovsky, a popular and prolific author, Dmitry Moor (1883-1946), Amshey Nurenberg (1887-1979), Alexander Rodchenko, Mikhail Volpin and others. Similar projects were performed in other Soviet cities. Cheremnykh and Mayakovsky, for example, produced a poster in 1921 satirising a French delegation led by Joseph Noulens.[1]

The design featured graphical simplicity suitable for viewing from distance and often used lubok-styled sequences of pictures according to some plot, similar to modern comics. The posters were not printed but rather painted with cut-out stencils made from cardboard. Once the required number of posters was painted, the stencils were sent to another city and put in circulation throughout the Soviet Union.

During the World War II, this approach was reproduced in Tass windows by Kukryniksy.

gollark: I read about some other company trying to make newer supersonic planes, hopefully that goes somewhere.
gollark: Ah yes, very expensive time zone hacks.
gollark: I suppose they work as a more obvious reminder, though? Some people have (generally software-based) clock things which constantly count down life expectancy or something, which seems like a great way to generate existential crises.
gollark: You're always slightly aging, and can worry about *that* instead of specifically birthdays, until someone comes up with really good life-extension or immortality.
gollark: I had mine last month. It's not like you age suddenly one year at a time, though.

See also
  • Media of Russia

Bibliography
  • Ward, Alex (2008). Power to the People: Early Soviet Propaganda Posters in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. London, UK, Ashgate, ISBN 0-85331-981-2
  1. V&A Images
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.