by Catherine A. Moore and Megan Hauser
258 pages, hardcover, $35
Published by Bloomsbury
bloomsbury.com

An extremely timely look at how illustrations influence the public, Political Illustration: The Visual Language of Propaganda, Censorship, and Dissent offers not just examples but deep analysis of political illustration.

The book is organized into four distinct chapters that examine how these images are constructed and disseminated to their target audiences. Essays within each chapter provide more context and critical understanding of political illustration throughout time, starting with state propaganda and walking through modern revolutions. In the last two chapters, the book addresses the current state of working in political dissent through interviews with present-day illustrators, such as Anita Kunz and Fabian Williams.

Just as important as the work itself, the authors examine how audience reception to political illustrations matters, as the image’s power may change if it is mediated by a publisher or platform, as well as how censored images can illustrate a larger truth. For example, Japanese Americans interned during World War II created illustrations depicting their isolated prison camps, a fact that the US government did not want public for many decades.

Though the book focuses largely on the history of political illustration leading into the present, it also addresses new technologies and their effects on the art form—say, using political images on the internet to connect LGBTQ people who have long been excluded from traditional media. But, as the authors note, the ease of creating images through AI and publishing on the internet now challenges political illustrators to define their purpose. —Haniya Rae ca