Little scraps of information can add up to a whale of a lot.....and the net is wide! Keep Our Secrets Secret
Poster
1960 (published)
1960 (published)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Although Western democratic states largely withdrew from the production of explicitly graphic political propaganda after the Second World War ended in 1945, a small number of Cold War posters were produced. This British poster, for display in Government and military offices dealing with 'sensitive' material, reminded employees of the interest that Britain's enemies might have in 'Eastern Europe', 'NATO' and 'nuclear power' (all scraps of sentences reproduced on the fishes). While not explicitly anti-Soviet, it drew on the fear of infiltration and espionage that fuelled Cold War paranoia and East-West enmity.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Little scraps of information can add up to a whale of a lot.....and the net is wide! Keep Our Secrets Secret (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Offset lithograph and colour lithograph on paper |
Brief description | Government Cold War propaganda poster by Reginald Mount and Eileen Evans. UK, 1960. printed by Multi Machine Plates Ltd. |
Physical description | portrait format poster printed in blue and black and white. Image of fishing net in black agains blue ground, angled to catch small white 'fish' depicted as fish shaped fragments of paper densely covered with text. Captioned at top left 'Little scraps.....net is wide!' and at bottom left 'Keep Our Secrets Secret.' |
Dimensions |
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Production type | Mass produced |
Marks and inscriptions |
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Credit line | Given by Eileen Evans |
Production | Poster issued by the Central Office of Information Attribution note: Issued by the Central Office of Information Reason For Production: Commission |
Subjects depicted | |
Place depicted | |
Summary | Although Western democratic states largely withdrew from the production of explicitly graphic political propaganda after the Second World War ended in 1945, a small number of Cold War posters were produced. This British poster, for display in Government and military offices dealing with 'sensitive' material, reminded employees of the interest that Britain's enemies might have in 'Eastern Europe', 'NATO' and 'nuclear power' (all scraps of sentences reproduced on the fishes). While not explicitly anti-Soviet, it drew on the fear of infiltration and espionage that fuelled Cold War paranoia and East-West enmity. |
Bibliographic reference | Taken from R.P. 95/580 |
Collection | |
Accession number | E.450-1995 |
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Record created | March 4, 2003 |
Record URL |
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