- Seven anti-fascist posters from the Spanish Civil War are to go on sale
- The 1930s collection is expected to go for more than £10,000 at auction
- The posters will be sold by Onslows Auctioneers in Dorset on 15 December
With Spain currently in turmoil over Catalonia’s independence crisis, the auction of a rare collection of posters from the Spanish Civil War has been given a whole new pertinence.
A set of seven posters are expected to fetch more than £10,000 when they go on sale in December given the parallels they drawn between Spain’s present situation and the time when Spain last underwent a period of major turmoil some 80 years ago.
The posters, which promote defiance against what was seen as General Francisco Franco’s fascist leadership, are especially relevant after Catalan’s leader described the actions of the prime minister as the worst attack on the country’s democracy since the 1930s.
Auctioneer Patrick Bogue pictured with the complete collection of seven posters, each featuring different bold, anti-fascist propaganda
The posters were created by a group of anti-fascist artists supporting the democratic Republican cause after a group of army generals led by Franco staged a military coup and tried to take control of the country in 1936.
In a country with a high rate of illiteracy, much of the propaganda produced in the first few years of the war, such as these posters, used rousing images to deliver their message to the masses.
Hitler and Mussolini both sent thousands of troops and weapons to help the right-wing Nationalists and many of the Republican posters slammed the “foreign fascist hordes” and the pictures showed swastika-covered enemies.
The posters will be sold by Onslows Auctioneers in Stourpaine, Dorset on December 15.
A left-wing paramilitary is depicted with an axe defeating a swastika-tongued green snake next to the words ‘We must give the final blow’
Demonstrating the might of the ‘invincible proletariat’ against military thuggery, this image shows an oversized Republican defeating a bloody-handed Nationalist brandishing a bloodied knife engraved with a swastika
‘Give your donation to the antifascists and their families imprisoned in fascist territories’ reads one of the posters featuring a mother and child
A bloodied man is seen wedged between a vice of swastikas in this Unionist Party poster
Two antifascist paramilitary are pictured with bold, red hearts engraved with the motto ‘overcome attack’
A skeletal Nationalist is depicted riding a dying horse with a swastika in a vision of hope for the Republicans
Two young children are seen guarded by a protective hand as a Nazi plane flies overhead, destroying buildings in its wake