Themes of Totalitarian Art in Propaganda from the First Peronist Period, 1946-1955

My research examines the government-controlled visual media created in Argentina during the First Peronist Period, from 1946 to 1955. I use Igor Golomstock’s work Totalitarian Art in the Soviet Union, the Third Reich,... [ view full abstract ]

My research examines the government-controlled visual media created in Argentina during the First Peronist Period, from 1946 to 1955. I use Igor Golomstock’s work Totalitarian Art in the Soviet Union, the Third Reich, Fascist Italy and the People’s Republic of China as a foundation to determine the defining elements of totalitarian art. I split my analysis into two parts: power and organization, followed by ideology and art. In my analysis of power and organization, I examine the common structures used by totalitarian regimes and the Peronist government in order to control the production of art. I contrast the regimes Golomstock describes—in particular the strategies of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union—with Perón’s attempt to gain a monopoly over Argentinian art production. In my analysis of ideology and art, I discuss the common themes that Golomstock detects and apply them to imagery found in Peronist propaganda. My analysis extends to posters, monuments, and cinema; within these categories I consider the common totalitarian concepts of “history and pre-history,” the “new man,” and “total realism.” I conclude that the art produced by the Peronist government reveals Perón’s efforts to achieve the mindset that Golomstock uses to define multiple totalitarian regimes.