A superb book of Heartfield's montage art by visual historian (and publication designer) David King. The focus of the book is the hard-hitting and savage attacks on Hitler and the Nazi Party for the AIZ (Workers' Illustrated Newspaper) published in Germany until it was banned when the Nazi's took over the country so the publication moved to Prague, making the circulation plummet from 500,000 to 12,000. The book reveals that Heartfield created nearly 240 montages for the newspaper and some of his best work is included, like 'Hurrah! Butter is finished' showing a German family seated at a dining table attempting to eat metal objects or the Japanese aerial bombing of Canton summed up in 'This is the salvation that they bring' with five aircraft in the sky and their vapor trails as fingers morphing into a skeleton hand with dead children at the bottom of the picture.
There are lots of spreads with page size photos that Heartfield worked on facing the printed version in the AIZ newspaper and it's ironic that far more people have seen these brilliant satirical images since his death in 1968 than saw the printed versions decades ago. David King's book design is perfect with the two hundred photos and graphics all with detailed captions. The last few pages have a couple of intriguing transcripts from the British Secret Service during the Second World War and into the Fifties and a 1950 transcript by the East German secret service. It's clear that through John Heartfield's life his creativity has rightly annoyed all the right people. Look inside the book at Westread Book Reviews, then click 2021 and February.
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