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  • 2019-05-29 (xsd:date)
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  • Is a 'Beware of Artists' Poster from the McCarthy Era? (en)
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  • An image supposedly showing a Beware of Artists poster issued during the 1950s by Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator known for making accusations of treason and spreading fears of communism, is frequently shared on social media: The poster reads, Beware of artists. They mix with all classes of society and are therefore the most dangerous: The McCarthy era certainly saw its fair share of propaganda posters, and artists — particularly filmmakers — were often the targets of Congressional investigations into un-American activities. Although the poster displayed above may express the sentiments of that time, its phrasing did not originate in the 1950s. This warning about dangerous artists can actually be traced back to the 19th century. In 1845, Leopold I, King of the Belgians, wrote a letter to Queen Victoria in which he expressed a similar warning against artists (emphasis ours): We have not been able to determine who revised King Leopold's words into a more modern phrasing or exactly when posters bearing those words may have been created, but we found no record of such a poster's circulating during the 1950s. The earliest iteration of this image we've found (multiple online versions of this version employ different fonts, colors, and composition) only dates as far back as 2012. This Beware of Artists poster is a modern expression of a political opinion that has been extant since at least the mid-1800s. (en)
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