Propaganda
Propaganda is overtly polemical, often emotive, and specifically designed to change attitudes and affect behaviour . In the United Kingdom, we are most aware of it in times of war, as are many countries (see below).
When paintings, cinema and other artforms are put to its service, do they warrant being classified as Art?
No?
We might want to say that since it is not created to evoke aesthetic feelings (we don't look at it and remark on the beauty of the colours or the balance of the composition) it isn't art. We might also be concerned that it is created to promote a partisan position.
But then we could think of all the religious art which was created to promote devotion (on a good day, that is - and the prestige and wealth of the patrons on not-so-good days). Few people challenge its status as Art. Similarly, we could think of a lot of modernist work which exists to raise questions about art itself. Yes, some people challenge its art-status, but many don't.
Yes?
We might want to say that it is skilful use of art media and artistic imagination; that they are cultural objects and as such give rise to the same aesthetical questions posed by less controversial images.
Before we get too gung-ho about it though, we ought to remember that the examples below are fairly tame. I don't recommend this, but if you were to google 'antisemitic art' you will discover some horrendous images. If propaganda is to be art, we will need to find a way of including that too (or indeed excluding it).
If propaganda works in changing attitudes, it does so because it is creative with the truth. It is frequently selective with facts and emphasises some truths to the exclusion of other. There is usually some element of truth within the message it promotes, and it is often this which gives it its power. In these recruitment posters from World War One, the clear message is that patriotism is good, and enlisting is the right response.
Sometimes, art which has been created for quite different reasons is eploited by groups for the own ends. Here the neo-nazi political party Alternative fur Deutschland have used an 1866 painting Slave Market by Jean-Léon Gérôme. The German text imposed on the painting translates: "So that Europe does not become Eurabien [a racist and islamaphobic word, suggesting a society dominated by arabs] vote AfD".
Perhaps because contemporary campaigners expect a more discerning public, modern examples of propaganda often references older examples:
posted on NRA websites
For balance, we might want to include an example from those opposed to the aims of the NRA. This image, based on a popular poster by Simon Dewey, has been widely used on the Internet:
