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The author follows the historical path and transformations of one of the best known twentieth-century political posters, El Lissitzky's Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge The article surveys avant-garde art that moves from representing to changing the world and points out instances of such art in Italian futurism and Russian constructivism. Lissitzky's poster is then described, and some of its transformations and appropriations in the history of the past century are detailed, showing how the poster has acquired a historic position among images of the Soviet Union that brought about remakes and applications in the USSR/Russia of the seventies and eighties. At that time it was also transformed into the logo of the 'modernist' Chinese 'Stars' group, which raises the question of how a Bolshevik political image could have served as an emblem for a non-politicized group of Chinese painters after the end of the Great Cultural Revolution. In the article the poster's ideological and aesthetic connotations and denotations are also described. Adapted from the source document.

After the dismantling of socialism in former Eastern Bloc countries, many Eastern European artists enthusiastically sought Western alternatives; but their initial fascination has given way to caution. Indeed, most of the artists who initially viewed the Western cultural establishment with wonder & awe -- because of the unimagined possibilities as well as the financial & social rewards -- now view it with fear because of the social & individual insecurity of art & culture under capitalism. Some of these artists have learned how to function within the international art establishment, but most have found it impossible to adapt to the changed situation. How & when they will start creating a new context that depends on neither socialist realism nor covert satire -- & what effect the shift will have on Western art -- remains to be seen. 3 Photographs. M. Maguire