Soviet Space Postcards

“The Soviet Union had some problems, but one thing they got right was space art. That's why there's nothing better than this gallery of adorable and awe-inspiring postcards from the USSR, looking at our future life in outer space.” Vincze Miklós 1/05/15

The Soviet and then Russian Space program began in the 1930s with rocket technology. One of the high points was the Buran shuttle launched in 1988. More recently, Roscosmos built a new spaceport the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

The Soviet Union had a fantastic arts program that included visual arts such as posters and postcards. These are some examples of Soviet space postcards. More can be found at the link below. Linked also is an old Soviet space video that gives the flavor of Soviet propaganda. 

  

Space-Themed Soviet Postcards Are a Cosmic Delight
Anthem of The Soviet Cosmonaut Program
Trump Calls on Pentagon to Create Military Space Force

Randy Senna As A Boardwalk Icon

Randy Senna is a boardwalk icon with over forty years of running vintage arcade games. He is currently running his nostalgic arcade dreams in Wildwood, NJ at the Wildwood Mall. Since 2011, he has operated the “Remember When Retro Arcade” in the basement of the Wildwood Boardwalk Mall. “As a boy he was enchanted by one game — Fascination, a test of skill that pits players against each other in a race to roll rubber balls down an alley and into holes that light up the game board.” (Courier Post).  Fascination would be considered in the same family as skee ball and the game dates to the 1920s at Chutes at the Beach in San Francisco. Across town on Pacific Avenue is the future Randyland, which is to be a combined arcade game parlor and arcade heritage museum. This former Woolworth’s building preserves 21,000 square feet of vintage arcade games, boardwalk memorabilia and even hundreds of mannequins. “Discomfortingly, there are also hundreds of mannequins, all lined up in rows, each an eerily perfect reproduction of Randy. They have Randy's grin, Randy's haircut. The only way you can tell them apart is that each wears a different costume.” (Jezebel). This historic preservation of vintage arcade games and boardwalk memorabilia both as a arcade parlor and museum is extraordinary. 

Wildwood arcade owner seeks home for retro games

Randyland: Trash or Treasure? 

Meet Randy, the Man Who Hoards Mannequins That Look Like Randy 

VIDEO: Man Hoards Himself on Hoarders

Pinball wizard of Wildwood hopes to play another day

Will Senna’s ‘Randyland’ Ever Open?

Fascination (game)

Randy Senna@Facebook

Augusta Savage: Sculptor

”Sculptor Augusta Savage was one of the leading artists of the Harlem Renaissance as well as an influential activist and arts educator.”The Biography.com

Augusta Savage (1892–1962) was an African-American woman who gravitated toward sculpture from a young age despite adversity. This adversity came from her father who as a minister discouraged her God-given talent. The other forms of adversity she faced were racism and poverty. In the 1920s, during the Harlem Renaissance, she earned a scholarship at the Cooper Union in New York City. In 1923 she was rejected for a French art scholarship due to her race. The economic difficulties of the Great Depression (1930s) made commissions hard to come by. She did earn a commission to craft a sculpture for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. She created The Harp. “Standing 16 feet tall, the work reinterpreted the musical instrument to feature 12 singing African-American youth in graduated heights as its strings, with the harp's sounding board transformed into an arm and a hand. In the front, a kneeling young man offered music in his hands.” This monumental work was destroyed at the end of the fair. This artwork does survive in photographs and a colorized video from the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York City.

Augusta Savage Biography
Augusta Savage "The Harp" 1930's African American Sculpture

Postcard Art as Propaganda

Art as propaganda has always used postcards more so in the pre-digital age. This World War One (the Great War) American postcard is by the artist Right. It depicts three boys shooting giant marbles at their adversary. The boys represent America, Britain and France while the adversary is Germany. It’s the American boy’s turn to shoot his marble at the German Huns who are depicted as wooden toy soldiers. The caption says, “Down him Sammy”; with Sammy being in reference to Uncle Sam. This is meant as a humorous postcard encouraging good feelings on behalf of the Allied war effort. In the digital age video is the preferred medium in encouraging war support, while postcard art as propaganda is used mostly in America during election campaigns.

firstworldwar.com 

Political Porn

Political porn is half truths and exaggerations that emotionally arouse people. Political art such as satire tends to fall into this category. Political postcards are one medium that expound on political satire. This postcard from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election depicting Clinton and Trump on a vintage boxing poster is a good example. Funny Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump Election Postcard is the title for this postcard.  The artist for this design is Vicky Brago-Mitchell (Campaign Showcase via Zazzle).
Vicky Brago-Mitchell