The aim of the thesis is to analyze the Archives of the National Theatre in Prague as an information system. The thesis describes the archives comprehensively, from its history to the present form, it describes the process of digitizing and archival websites. In detail, it devotes to its collections. The part of the thesis is the analysis of the methodology of theatre archives and overall assessment of the importance of archives for Czech culture including its role in terms of meeting information needs.

This thesis explores the development of a series of posters created by Howard Chandler Christy during the World War I era. During this time, Christy was a Department of Pictorial Publicity (DPP) committee artist commissioned by the committee chair, Charles Dana Gibson. The DPP was part of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) developed by the Woodrow Wilson administration to generate the propaganda necessary to gain the support of the American people to enter World War I. The CPI was headed up by George Creel, a journalist and politician, who used advertising techniques to create the first full-scale propaganda effort in United States history. American poster images of women during World War I represent an era when propaganda posters came of age. These iconographic interpretations depicted in political propaganda helped shape the history of the twentieth century. While exploring these portrayals of women, the observer looks through a historical lens to contemplate the role of propaganda in the American war effort, while considering the disparity between images of women and the reality of their experiences in the patriarchal society in which they lived. Howard Chandler Christy's war-related posters represented the gendered rhetoric of a social order that functioned under the well-established assumption that men and women both had their place in society based on gender-specific stereotypic characteristics. Women were central to propaganda posters from this era; their images were widely used in posters encouraging Americans to support the war effort. With few exceptions, these representations perpetuated traditional concepts of appropriate gender roles. Posters often used women as icons characterizing the nation in time of war. For example, a beautiful woman, with a backdrop of the United States flag or sometimes even dressed in Old Glory, suggested why the nation was fighting. Some posters explicitly used beautiful women to signify that America's honor was at stake and we needed fighting men to protect it. The poster art form spread rapidly during the early twentieth century, putting a woman in her place rather than challenging the historical circumstances that created the complex, problematic issues related to the visual representation. Reading these posters as cultural texts, it is apparent that women's images are central to gaining an understanding of the social norms and cultural expectations.

Detta arbete har undersökt fredsduvan som symbol i ukrainska krigsaffischer och vilken påverkan dess gestaltning får för slut resultatet. Syftet med arbetet var att skapa en djupare förståelse i hur en traditionell symbol, i detta fall fredsduvan, kan användas för att skapa en opinion för ett specifikt ändamål. Studien har genomförts genom en kvalitativ metod i form av en semiotisk visuell analys där materialet undersökts genom denotation och konnotation för att slutligen sättas i relation till det teoretiska ramverket. Teorin som applicerats är bland annat representation, semiotik och propaganda. Resultatet visar att fredsduvan tar på sig olika roller beroende på den kontext den gestaltas i men gemensamt för samtliga affischer är att den tydligt tar ställning för Ukrainas sak och den blir en symbol för att bygga upp sympatier i västvärlden. Som en del av mitt examensarbete har jag också gjort en medieproduktion. Syftet med denna var att göra om illustrationerna till Unicef Ukraina och Dzerelos befintliga broschyr ”Förvärvad funktionsnedsättning hos ett barn. Tips till föräldrar och pedagoger” med en mer positiv och inkluderande gestaltning av barn med funktionsnedsättning, samt att genom illustrationerna att inspirera och skapa en känsla av hoppfullhet hos målgruppen. / This thesis has investigated the dove of peace as a symbol in Ukrainian war posters and what affect its depiction have for the final result. The aim of the thesis was to create a deeper understanding of how traditional symbols, in this case the dove of peace, can be used to create an opinion for a specific purpose. The study was performed through a qualitative method in the shape of a semiotic visual analysis where the material was analyzed by using denotation and connotation and finally put in relation to the theoretical framework. Applied theory includes representation, semiotics, and propaganda. The result shows that the dove of peace takes on different roles depending on the context it is depicted in, but all posters have one thing in common and that is that it takes a clear stand for Ukraine’s cause, and it becomes symbol to create sympathy in the western world. As part of my degree project, I have also done a media production. The objective of this was to redo the illustrations for Unicef Ukraine and Dzerelo's existing brochure "Children with Acquired Disabilities. Guidelines for Parents and Professionals" with more positive and inclusive portrayal of children with disabilities, as well as to inspire and create a feeling of hope among the target group through the illustrations.

[pt] Gráfica de rua – estratégias e táticas na cultura visual de rua do Rio de Janeiro é uma investigação sobre o campo da cultura visual de rua. Neste trabalho, observamos uma pluralidade de manifestações visuais – cartazes de lambe-lambe, pixações, grafites, outdoors, banners, impressos volantes, entre outros – objetos que se inserem em um universo dos impressos e através dos quais diversos agentes procuram se fazer representar no espaço público, apropriando-se da rua como um aparato visual. Compreendemos a rua como o lugar de um conflito territorial – uma disputa que se dá no espaço e se manifesta no plano das imagens, através da manipulação, do acúmulo e da sobreposição de indícios visuais. Propomos a noção de capital visual como uma abordagem para as estratégias e táticas de visibilidade levadas adiante pelos diferentes agentes na disputa de poder de que a rua é lugar. / [en] Street Graphic - strategies and tactics on the street visual culture of Rio de Janeiro is a reflection is an investigation about the street visual culture. In this work, we observe the plurality of visual manifestations, such as grafities, billboards, banners, flyers, among others. Objects that are part of the universe of printed forms and through which different agents seek to be represented in public space, by appropriating the street as a visual apparatus. We understand the street as a place of territorial conflict - a dispute that happens in space and manifests in images, through the manipulation, accumulation and overlap of visual clues. We propose the notion of visual capital as an approach to the strategies and tactics of visibility taken forward by the various players in the power struggle that happens in the street.

The Prague based Haase printing and publishing company played an important role in the development of polygraphy, typography, significantly contributed to the Czech national revival and during its existence collaborated with many artists in some cases of world importance. This PhD thesis tries to bring knowledge to the applied graphic art in the Czech lands in general, but also describes the most important historical events of the Haase company, especially these with influence on its art production. The PhD thesis examines the process of graphic work creation and tries to place selected works in the context of work of individual authors and the fine art in the Central European area in general. It is also focused on the nationality issue and the role it played in the selection of artists with whom the Haase company collaborated.

This thesis examines the relationship between the three artists' workshops Røde Mor (Red Mother), Folkets Ateljé (The People's Studio) and GRAS, who worked between 1968 and 1975 in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Røde Mor was from the outset an articulated Communist graphic workshop loosely organised around collective exhibitions. It developed into a highly productive and professionalised group of artists that made posters by commission for political and social movements. Its artists developed a familiar and popular artistic language characterised by imaginative realism and socialist imagery. Folkets Ateljé, which has never been studied before, was a close knit underground group which created quick and immediate responses to concurrent political issues. This group was founded on the example of Atelier Populaire in France and is strongly related to its practices. Within this comparative study it is the group that comes closest to collective practises around 1968 outside Scandinavia, namely the democratic assembly. The silkscreen workshop GRAS stemmed from the idea of economic and artistic freedom, although socially motivated and politically involved, the group never implemented any doctrine for participation. The aim of this transnational study is to reveal common denominators to the three groups' poster art as it was produced in connection with a Scandinavian experience of 1968. By ‘1968' it is meant the period from the late 1960s till the end of the 1970s. It examines the socio-political conditions under which the groups flourished and shows how these groups operated in conjunction with the political environment of 1968. The thesis explores the relationship between political movements and the collective art making process as it appeared in Scandinavia. To present a comprehensible picture of the impact of 1968 on these groups, their artworks, manifestos, and activities outside of the collective space have been discussed. The argument has presented itself that even though these groups had very similar ideological stances, their posters and techniques differ. This has impacted the artists involved to different degrees, yet made it possible to express the same political goals. It is suggested to be linked with the Scandinavian social democracies and common experience of the radicalisation that took place mostly in the aftermath of 1968 proper. By comparing these three groups' it has been uncovered that even with the same socio-political circumstances and ideological stance divergent styles did develop to embrace these issue.

Das Leonhardi-Museum in Dresden gehörte in der DDR zu den legendären Ausstellungsorten für zeitgenössische, nonkonforme Kunst. Seine Besonderheit bestand darin, daß die Konzeption und Organisation der Ausstellungen in den Händen der Künstler selbst lag - die sich dafür immer wieder in einer offenen Formation, einer Arbeitsgruppe (AG) zusammenschlossen -, und daß es kein inoffizieller oder autonomer Ort war, sondern zunächst eine Galerie des staatlichen Künstlerverbandes VBK und später des Stadtbezirkes Dresden Ost. In der vorliegenden Dissertation konnten von 1963 bis 1990 über 100 Ausstellungen und Aktionen im großen Saal des Leonhardi-Museums nachgewiesen und dokumentiert werden: In der Mehrzahl Personal-Ausstellungen von Graphikern, Malern und Bildhauern, die Haltungen provozierten, Sehgewohnheiten erweiterten und sich von der Dimension des Raumes zu Experimenten anregen ließen. Nicht selten war es für sie die erste Gelegenheit, überhaupt auszustellen. Kanonbildend waren vor allem die gemeinsamen Feste und die spektakulären Gruppenausstellungen zu den Themen „Türen“ (1979) und „Frühstück im Freien“ (1982), welche das Leonhardi-Museum auch über die Stadt- und Staatsgrenze hinaus bekannt machten. Ferner trugen die durch das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit veranlassten Verbote und Schließungen zur Popularität des Hauses bei. Im Vergleich mit anderen offiziellen Ausstellungsorten in Berlin (Kunstkabinett von Lothar Lang, Galerie Arkade), Leipzig (Galerie am Sachsenplatz, Herbstsalon), Karl-Marx-Stadt (Galerie Clara Mosch) und Dresden (u.a. die Galerien Kunst der Zeit, Nord, Comenius und Mitte; Puschkinhaus, Lücke frequentor, Intermedia) konnte gezeigt werden, daß sich die Bedeutung des Leonhardi-Museums veränderte, es aber der einzige Ausstellungsort in der DDR war, an dem es Künstlern über drei Jahrzehnte gelungen ist, offizielle Strukturen (aus-) zu nutzen, um in produktiver Eigenständigkeit einen Freiraum für bildende Kunst zu schaffen. / The Leonhardi-Museum in Dresden belonged to one of the most legendary exhibition centers / galleries for contemporary nonconformist art in the GDR. Its peculiarity was derived from the fact that the concept and organization of the exhibitions lay in the hands of the artists themselves – who continually formed open ad hoc working groups (Arbeitsgruppe / AG) – as well as the fact that it was not an unofficial or autonomous institution, but primarily a gallery belonging to the State Association of Artists in the Graphic Arts in the GDR (VBK) and later to the city council Dresden-East. This dissertation examines and documents more than 100 exhibitions and events held in the principal hall of the Leonhardi-Museum between 1963 and 1990. The majority were personal exhibitions by graphic artists, painters and sculptors which provoked attitudes and opinions, broadened viewing habits and which featured experiments which were stimulated by the dimensions of the room. Often it was the first opportunity at all for artists to exhibit. Especially the communal festivities and spectacular group exhibitions around the topics “doors” and “Alfresco Breakfast” made the Leonhardi-Museum famous both nationally and internationally. Ministry of “Staatssicherheit” bans contributed to the increased popularity of the Leonhardi-Museum. Comparisons with similar official exhibition venues in Berlin (Lothar Lang’s Art-Cabinet, Gallery Arkade), Leipzig (Gallery on the Sachsenplatz, Herbstsalon), Karl-Marx-Stadt (Gallery Clara Mosch) and Dresden (Galleries Kunst der Zeit, Nord, Comenius and Mitte; Puschkinhaus, Lücke frequentor, Intermedia) demonstrate that the importance of the Leonhardi-Museum changed, but that for three decades it remained the only place in the GDR in which artists were able to use official structures for their art. In doing so they created scope for freedom for the graphic arts.