Motherland calls poster year of creation. “The motherland is calling” - a poster calling for the fight against invaders

The face of the woman depicted on the Great Patriotic War propaganda poster “The Motherland is Calling!” is familiar to everyone. The main task of the artist Irakli Toidze was to create a generalized image of a woman-mother, in which every soldier could see his mother. Nevertheless, this image-symbol had a real prototype - Tamara Toidze.

The poster was created at the very beginning of the war, a few days after the invasion of German troops, in June 1941. At that time, many similar propaganda posters and patriotic songs appeared, designed to inspire people to fight the enemy. However, it was this poster that became the most popular and recognizable.

Artist Irakli Toidze

The hereditary Georgian artist Irakli Toidze had already become famous as an illustrator at that time - he was the author of the drawings for the poem “The Knight in the Skin of a Tiger.” According to his stories, he was just working on them when on June 22, 1941, his wife, Tamara Toidze, ran into the room shouting: “War!” With her hand she instinctively pointed to the open door, from behind which could be heard messages about the beginning of the war from the Sovinformburo, transmitted over the street loudspeaker. This gesture inspired the artist to create the poster. “Stay there and don’t move!” - he then asked his wife and immediately began to make sketches. Tamara was 37 years old at that time, but she looked much younger, and in order to create a generalized image of her mother, the artist depicted a woman older than the prototype.

Tamara Toidze

According to the artist’s son, the artist borrowed the words “Motherland” from the work of his favorite poet Andrei Bely. In the collection of his poems, Irakli Toidze underlined the lines with a pencil: “Let me, O Motherland, in the deaf, damp expanse, in your expanse, let me weep.”

The poster was ready by the end of the month and was reproduced in millions of copies. It was posted all over the country - at train stations and collection points, in factories and factories, on walls and fences. The idea of the poster was so close and understandable to everyone that the soldiers carried its reduced reproductions the size of a postcard in the breast pockets of their tunics, and if they had to surrender a settlement to the Nazis, the soldiers, retreating, tore off the posters “with mom” and took them with them.

French poster from the First World War. Fragment

Today, some researchers have expressed doubts about the time and circumstances of the creation of this poster. Some of them claim that “Motherland” was created even before the start of the war, while others claim that Toidze borrowed the gesture of calling for action not from his wife, but from the authors of already existing foreign propaganda posters on military themes. Still others are sure that the raised and drawn back hand is a characteristic gesture of emotional Georgian women.

Propaganda posters of France, Greece, USSR, division *Galicia*, USA

Be that as it may, the power of influence of “Motherland” was extraordinary: the poster inspired people in the same way as the song “Holy War”. This would hardly have been possible if the artist had created only a portrait of his wife. The image was indeed a collective one, which is confirmed by the artist’s son: “The image of the woman from the poster, of course, is largely generalized. My mother was very beautiful, but my father simplified her image and made it clear to everyone...” That is why this image became a real symbol of that era and the strength of spirit of the people who rose up to fight fascism.

Poster *Motherland is calling!*. Fragment

The face of the woman depicted on the famous propaganda poster from the Great Patriotic War “The Motherland is Calling!” is familiar to everyone. The main task of the artist Irakli Toidze was to create a generalized image of a woman-mother, in which every soldier could see his mother. Nevertheless, this image-symbol had a real prototype - Tamara Toidze.

The poster was created a few days after the invasion of German troops into the USSR, in June 1941. At that time, many similar propaganda posters and patriotic songs appeared, designed to inspire people to fight the enemy. But it was this poster that was destined to become a symbol of the era and inspire millions of people to perseverance and courage.

With her hand she instinctively pointed to the open door, from behind which could be heard messages about the beginning of the war from the Sovinformburo, transmitted over the street loudspeaker. This gesture inspired the artist to create the poster. “Stay there and don’t move!” - he then asked his wife and immediately began to make sketches. Tamara was 37 years old at that time, but she looked much younger, and in order to create a generalized image of her mother, the artist depicted a woman older than the prototype.

Propaganda posters of France, Greece, USSR, Galicia division, USA

The poster “The Motherland is Calling” was drawn by artist Irakli Toidze in June 1941. The meaning of the image on the poster was that a woman (Motherland, a collective image of a mother) calls her sons for help, to stand up for the defense of their native land. The image of the “Motherland” later became one of the most widespread images of Soviet propaganda.

“Motherland” is one of the most famous propaganda posters in the history of the Soviet Union, the circulation of which was simply enormous. The background to its creation is very simple, but no less interesting. The poster was born in the first days following the attack of the Nazi troops of Hitler's Third Reich on the Soviet Union.

The declaration of war was broadcast on all radio channels of the state, so that every resident of the country heard about this terrible news. The artist Irakli Toidze, the future creator of this masterpiece, was no exception. As he admitted over time, the idea of what the poster would look like came to the author completely by accident. Toidze learned about the German attack from the words of his wife.

On the morning of June 22, 1941, the year after the announcement of the Soviet Information Bureau, the artist’s excited wife ran into his studio with only one word: “War!”

The amazed Toidze, seeing all the horror and calm determination on his woman’s face, immediately asked her to freeze in place. It was his wife who inspired the artist to create the poster. On it he depicted an ordinary woman in a simple red dress, which should symbolize the image of Mother Russia.

In her hands, the Motherland holds the oath, the taking of which was mandatory before being sent to the front to fight the troops of the German occupiers.

Behind the woman, many bayonets are visible, which symbolizes the powerful force behind the entire country. The poster had its effect: for many conscripts, the poster became an additional incentive, and they tried to sign up as volunteers to be sent to the front as quickly as possible.

Here we can see some continuity in the heroine of the poster, similar ones to which were already used during the first war, as well as during the Civil War between the Red Army and the remnants of the White Guard troops.

Irakli Toidze created a number of propaganda posters during the war years. On one of them he depicted a woman with a child in her arms, the images of which were copied from his wife Tamara and son Sandro. The poster was called “For the Motherland!”

But the story of the image of the Motherland, of course, did not end there; the artist turned to it again in 1959 in connection with the beginning of the era of space exploration. The poster is called “In the Name of Peace”, 1959. She again calls for peace, only now in the vastness of space; time will tell whether people will hear it and understand it, while the militarization of space continues

There is also a place for this image in modern society. There are numerous interpretations of the image and parodies of this poster in fine art, sculpture, folk art, and advertising.

After the war, the artist Irakli Toidze made ten more original reproductions of the poster for various museums, but the original is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. For some, the poster became an example of Soviet military propaganda. For others - the Motherland - a mother who needs to be defended and protected. For still others, it is a public stamp that is associated with the Soviet period. An eternal image always remains a reflection of the time in which it is applicable.

The face of a woman depicted on a famous propaganda poster from the Great Patriotic War “The Motherland is calling!”, is familiar to everyone. The main task of the artist Irakli Toidze was to create a generalized image of a woman-mother, in which every soldier could see his mother. Nevertheless, this image-symbol had a real prototype - Tamara Toidze.

In wartime, such posters raised morale and served the idea of uniting the people in the name of a common goal: