1941 Original Mixed-Media Production Artwork for a Soviet WWII Propaganda Poster & Postcard
DESCRIPTION
"He Had One Thing in Mind, but Everything Turned Upside Down!"
Few pieces of wartime propaganda survive in the form in which they were actually created. This original mixed-media production artwork represents the master design prepared for publication as both a Soviet propaganda poster and a matching postcard during the opening weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Created in July 1941 by noted Soviet illustrator Nikolai Mikhailovich Kochergin (1897–1974) with accompanying verse by Boris Timofeev, the composition was published by the state publishing house Iskusstvo under the title Dumal ob odnom, a vsyo poshlo vverkh dnom! "He Had One Thing in Mind, but Everything Turned Upside Down!" Accompanied by an original example of the finished postcard, the artwork provides a rare opportunity to examine the creative and editorial process behind one of the Soviet Union's earliest wartime propaganda images.
The Humiliation of Hitler at Sea
The design unfolds as a three-panel visual narrative. In the opening scene, Adolf Hitler, caricatured with exaggerated features and astride a swastika-marked warship, confidently advances toward Soviet shores while proclaiming that Germany's surface fleet and submarines will carry the fascist banner across the seas. Behind him, factory smokestacks and an industrial skyline reinforce the imagery of total war, while the accompanying verse mocks the arrogance of Nazi ambitions.
The second panel abruptly reverses the story. Soviet sailors, rendered in bold reds and blues, return fire from the deck of a battleship as enemy vessels explode in the distance. The verse declares that when the "black vermin" approached Soviet shores, the Soviet fleet answered decisively. The final scene completes the satire as Hitler's ship sinks beneath the waves, leaving only his upturned boots visible above the water while hungry fish gather around the wreckage. The closing lines deliver the visual joke: Germany's surface fleet has become a submarine fleet by sinking, while its submarines have been blasted upward into the air.
Literary Translation of Russian Script.
PANEL 1
Разобью кого угодно Молвил в море дерзкий враг.
Флот надводный и подводный Понесет фашистский флаг
I'll smash whoever dares oppose me, boasted the arrogant foe at sea.
My surface fleet and submarines alike shall sail beneath the Fascist flag.
PANEL 2
Но когда к земле советской Гады черные пошли,
Им ответ по-молодецки Дали наши корабли...
But when those black vermin advanced upon Soviet shores,
our fleet answered them with courage and determination.
PANEL 3
И на радость рыб голодных Ждал фашистов злой удел:
Флот надводный стал подводным, А подводный — вверх взлетел!
To the delight of hungry fish, a grim fate befell the Fascists:
their surface fleet became a submarine fleet, while their submarines were blasted into the air!
Propaganda from the Opening Weeks of Operation Barbarossa
The artwork was created during one of the most critical moments of the Second World War. Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 in Operation Barbarossa, launching the largest land campaign in history. Although Soviet forces suffered devastating losses during the opening weeks of the invasion, posters, postcards, and illustrated broadsides became essential tools for sustaining morale. Rather than documenting specific naval engagements, Kochergin employed humor and ridicule to assure viewers that Nazi confidence would ultimately end in disaster. Such satirical imagery became one of the defining characteristics of Soviet wartime propaganda, presenting the enemy as boastful, foolish, and ultimately doomed.
An Exceptional Survival from the Soviet Publishing Process
The historical importance of this piece lies not only in its published image but in its physical evidence of production. Unlike the finished postcard, the sheet retains blue registration borders, graphite layout lines, registration crosses, handwritten verses, editorial annotations, production notations, and grease-pencil corrections applied during the publishing process. Close examination reveals the artwork to have been executed in a combination of watercolor, gouache, ink, lithographic crayon, and graphite materials commonly employed in commercial illustration before photographic reproduction.
The surviving production markings demonstrate that this sheet served as part of the preparation for publication rather than as a later copy or presentation painting. Particularly noteworthy are the editorial routing notations on the verso, including a blue pencil date of July 1941, production stamps, and red grease-pencil approval markings, all consistent with artwork passing through a Soviet publishing office. The composition corresponds precisely to the finished postcard and to the larger propaganda poster issued from the same design, preserving the creative process behind both publications in remarkable detail.
Nikolai Kochergin and the Significance of Original Soviet Propaganda Artwork
Nikolai Mikhailovich Kochergin was among the Soviet Union's accomplished illustrators and poster artists, active from the Russian Civil War through the Second World War. Before becoming widely known for his postwar children's book illustrations, he worked extensively in political graphics, caricature, magazine illustration, and wartime propaganda. His works are represented in Russian museum collections, and his wartime designs remain among the most recognizable examples of Soviet visual propaganda produced during the defense of Leningrad.
Original Soviet production artwork of this caliber is encountered only rarely on the market. While wartime posters and postcards were printed in thousands of copies, the original mixed-media artwork prepared for publication was unique. Together with its accompanying postcard, this remarkable survival preserves not merely the finished image but the editorial, artistic, and technical process through which Soviet propaganda was created during one of the defining moments of the Second World War.
CONDITION
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