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In the years after the First World War, until the end of the Second World War, three political models for shaping the future of nation states emerged; Fascism, Communism and liberal democracy. These all offered great ideas for the future of the world. Fascism and Communism shared some common features: authoritarian, strong leaders and a belief that their revolutions had to be carried through with violence. This led to the mass murders in the Nazi concentration camps and 1n the Soviet Gulags. In the mid war periods, the “Litfass columns” that were originally designed to carry advertising, became the outdoor galleries for the war of ideologies. The political poster was born. High quality posters from every political party in Germany popped up on the columns. Hitler’s propaganda chief Géebels stated that the Nazi election campaign should be run through speeches and posters. The other parties responded in kind. An art form thus became an essential political tool in the battle for votes. The propagandist Art used by the Nazis and communists alike was essential in helping sell their message to the masses. Indeed, much of the art that was critical of these movements was suppressed or censored and “subversive” artists cowed, in some cases imprisoned or even worse. The liberal democratic model departed sharply from these authoritarian perspectives by presenting the alternative of free and transparent elections, the rule of law and freedom of speech. In the mid-war period the three narratives were competing to be the conceptual frame for society. After the Second World War fascism was crushed leaving the two competing ideologies of communism and liberal democracy. After the demise of communism in 1989, through to the late 1990’s, liberal democracy was victorious in the idealogical battlefield. Some historians, like Francis Fukuyama, went so far as to proclaim this period as “the end of history’. A key piece of art that championed this kind of ideology was Sheppard Fairey’s campaign poster for Barack Obama. In this poster, Fairey, a well established graffiti artist uses urban colours and stencilling techniques combined with the message “HOPE” to promote the incoming presidents positive values and popularity with the young. It 1s notable that Fairey’s most recent political poster protests the Trump presidency rather than promote it. With the rise of so called “illiberal democracy”, with strong parties standing for populist ideologies, we have now moved into what can be described as the age of bewilderment. We were not in fact at the “end of history”. Once again the future looks unpredictable and insecure and artists are responding in different ways. Jeremy Deller, a British Turner prize winning artist created a work which features a car damaged in the bombing of the historic Mutanabbi Street book market, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people. Here, an art work has been used to show the aftermath of an event. This event was the result of the Iraq war, which was seen as a way to spread democracy. Here Art is used as a means by which to explore the effects of ideology rather than promote it, another really interesting area in the study of the intersections between ideology and art. Exploring how art reflects the historical and ideological contexts of the world around it is fascinating to me and I would love to study these ideas in more depth at undergraduate level. please note The information contained in this communication is confidential, may be attorney-client privileged, may constitute inside information, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. It is the property of JEE Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communication or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or by e-mail to jeevacation@gmail.com, and destroy this communication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. copyright -all rights reserved HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_033417