When my family and I visited London this past spring, we spent the better part of a day at the amazing Tate Modern. At the time, the museum was hosting an exhibit on Constructivist art featuring the propaganda posters of Aleksandr Rodchenko and others that profligated after the Bolshevik Revolution. I didn’t know much about Constructivism — or about Russian history, for that matter — but I was instantly struck by the futuristic feel, bold graphics, and vibrant color (namely red, of course) of these images, which eschewed art simply for art’s sake in favor of art in service of the nation’s social welfare.

Today, original examples of this agitprop art command hundreds and even thousands of dollars on the open market (oh, the irony for us members of the cash-strapped proletariat … ). But you can find good-quality reproductions for a fraction of that by surfing around in eBay’s Military and Political Art and Russian Collectibles categories. The striking giclee print of a 1931 propaganda poster, for instance, is rendered on heavyweight archival paper and measures 20 by 29 inches. Roughly translated, it reads “Smite the Lazy Worker!” Snap it up and hang it near your home work station for a bit of tongue-in-cheek motivation on those days when you’re not feeling terribly industrious. After all, it’s for the greater good. Current bid: $15. — Leah H.

See more of Leah’s eBay finds on her blog, More Ways To Waste Time.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 7:11 am and is filed under collecting, decorating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.