recto: Percy Vere (no. 22); verso: He's nasty Nazis were... Accession Number: ARTV01641

Description

One of a series of double sided posters from the Ministry of Labour and National Service and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, depicting workers in a factory observing (or not observing) safety and accident prevention rules.

(verso) An example of a British propaganda posters during the Second World War, used to instil anti-Japanese attitudes. Using racial stereotypes and derogatory humour the posters harboured fear and caution amongst society. The top half of this poster depicts a Japanese rising sun flag with a caricatured Japanese face in the centre. The Japanese people were stereotyped to look buffoonish and unintelligent, predominantly through the yellow skin, glasses and exaggerated squinted eyes with large buckteeth. A large number of similar posters were issued by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) when they realised that "an accident in the works is as much a gain to the enemy as a casualty in the forces." It also warns that although the Nazis had been defeated the threat of the Japanese is still apparent.

Hans Arnold Rothholz (1919-2000) was born in Dresden, Germany and immigrated to London with his family in 1933 to escape the Nazi regime. Rothholz was formally trained in design at the Willesden School of Art and later in commercial art at the Reinmann School, London. It is at these schools that Rothholz would have been influenced by the Bauhaus and other international modernist movements; these influences are evident in his poster design. In the 1940s he began designing posters for the RoSPA and the Post Office war efforts. After the war Rothholz produced several designs for the 1948 London Olympics, he worked as a consultant designer in the 1950s and in the 1960s he moved into the emerging field of corporate design.

Details

Conflicts

• Second World War, 1939-1945

Places

• United Kingdom

Tags

• Core collection (Art)
• Posters
• Industrial safety
• Tools and machinery
• Cartoons and caricatures