Russian Propaganda Tourism Posters From the 1920s and 1930s
During the 20s and 30s, the Russian tourist board decided to re-brand itself to Westerners. They attempted to present themselves in a more fashionable and familiar way to other countries. The posters shown here have a wonderful art deco feel and use language and imagery that they hoped would appeal to Europeans and Americans.
An organisation called Intourist was put together by Stalin in 1929 to create and disperse these images, advertising a Russia that never really existed. In 1931, they designed a poster competition to encourage artists to get involved in the project.
Some of the winning artists, like Maria Nesterova-Berzina, Nikolay Zhukov and Aleksandr Zhitomrisky, are featured below. Intourist still functions today and, at one point, was the largest tourist organisation in the world.
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