ConclusionE

The Wall

In an industrialised society, powerful people and people of wealth want to show their wealth

and prestige in any way possible. The political leaders however are possibly the most able to do so.

In the 21st century architectural propaganda can be in many forms, some subtle others more

apparent.

When Donald Trump’s presidency began in 2017, the propaganda leaders use took a whole

new and solid meaning. The wall that he still suggests to build on the southern border of the United

States of America is a total reliance on the power of architectural propaganda. Architecture plays a

fundamental role in the propagandized rhetoric of the Trump Administration which harbour an

ideology with an unquestionable emphasis on nationalism.

Conclusion

After looking at key examples from various time periods, spanning over thousands of years,

and investigating the relationship between art and propaganda, the paper sums up as the following.

Art and propaganda have always been on the two sides of a medallion. Every artwork that

had something to say is, to a certain extent, a form of propaganda. Whether it is a propaganda of an

artist’s completely personal opinions or serves to a much bigger case it is in propagandistic motives.

Although the motives behind some artworks remain a mystery, it is possible to find many other

clear approaches to support this idea.

It is not very possible for art historians to clearly depict the reasons behind cave paintings

thus relating them to propagandistic motives. However homo sapiens using the paintings of the

animal they hunted as trophies or for commemorating their bravery and success is a possibility that

cannot be denied fully. The depictions on Trajan’s Column are definitely designed in order to

empower the emperor and keep his reign over the great Roman Empire. As the Church commissions

paintings to tell the stories from the Bible, they become great examples of religious propaganda. By

the help of many reproductions of the same scenes and compositions people are informed about

Christianity and invited to join the churches.

Guernica is the propaganda of an artist, protesting wars and laying bare the gruesome after

math. The violence innocent people are bound to go through is condemned and Guernica is still a

powerful piece of propaganda with high artistic values. Transparency, the performance art piece,

might remind one of the protestors using paper cutouts of the figures in Guernica in their marches.

In these cases the art becomes the propaganda itself. The works are already saying something either

promoting an idea or protesting another, they already have a voice. Therefore people using them on

a further level as mediums of protest can be seen as quite intelligent and powerful. Architecture and

design are also artworks that have been crucial tools of political propaganda for many years.

These examples given are the specific art works that are believed to be propagandistic

motives, promoting one belief or the other used by authorities or the people themselves. Along side

these examples, there are definitely others without any motives aside from artistry and shall not be

considered in this argument in this context.

Coming back to the question of where we draw the line between art and propaganda, it

might be a good idea to quote George Orwell again who says: “All art is propaganda; on the other

hand, not all propaganda is art.” Art is the creative act of expressing one’s feelings and thoughts. All

art is actually to a certain extent propaganda. But what should be kept in mind is the freedom art

gives. The more useful question to ask might be: what’s trying to change one’s mind versus what’s

trying to expand it. In the instance of art, the mind can change and is free to do so. But in pure

propaganda which has no artistic intensions, the mind is given no choice.

Propagandistic motives have always been present in art and will most definitely continue to

be so. To draw a strict line between art and propaganda would be inadequate and senseless

according to the many examples given in this research. The better separation might be done like the

following: propaganda that carries artistic vision and propaganda that doesn’t.