The art of propaganda

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Art and Design.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Harriet Atkinson, from the University of Brighton in the UK, who is uncovering the role of modernist artists between 1933 and 1953 in Britain – how the influences of refugees, the outbreak of World War II and eventual victory all affected exhibitions, and how these in turn affected the people who saw them.
• This resource also contains an interview with Harriet. If you or your students have a question for her, you can submit it online – go to the article using the Futurum link below and scroll to the bottom of the page. Harriet will reply!
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Harriet’s research, and tasks them to look deeper into how art has influenced public opinion.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

If you like these free resources – or have suggestions for improvements –, please let us know and leave us some feedback. Thank you!