The Imperial War Museum are currently staging a fantastic exhibition entitled Weapons of Mass Communication. The exhibition looks at war posters and the way in which they have evolved over time. It's a superb way to spend an hour or so, containing over 300 posters, ranging in subject matter from the Spanish Civil War (see above) to CND to the 2003 anti war demonstratons. 
What's most striking is just how well so many of the posters stand up as works of art in themselves. Anyone with any interest at all in design will be blown away. It's also amusing to see the dated nature of some of the posters. One print, for example, features an attractive blonde lady speaking to some drunk soldiers in a bar. Underneath the tagline reads "Keep Mum, She's Not So Dumb". Hmm.If anything, the large number of posters on display rather lessens the impact, particularly in the sections that deal with the home front and the encouragement of the public to invest in government bonds. But the exhibition clearly demonstrates the way in which the development of propaganda posters has been largely based on the theft of ideas. No sooner does one campaign come up with a clever new design idea than it is seen on posters by designers on the other side of the world. The exhibition also gives a glimpse into some of the social values of the past, in which women were demanded to work in factories at one moment and harangued into returning to their homes a few years later.
So all in all, a bloody great exhibition. Oh-and don't bother going to see the annoyingly overrated Camouflage exhibition that a certain London listings magazine got so excited about. It's too small to warrant the £7 price tag and the use of camouflage in modern day fashion isn't nearly as ironic or interesting as they make out. There's plenty of other stuff to see there and there's always the treat of standing next to a bloody great cannon to excite you if your adrenalin levels flag.
