Photomontage in the Fascist Magazine La Difesa della razza: Visual Sources, Manipulations, Controversies

Abstract

Through the analysis of some particularly significant examples, the article analyses the use of photomontage within the fascist magazine La Difesa della razza between 1938 and 1942: starting with the well-known first cover, which later became the logo of the periodical and blends together anti-Semitism and anti-black racism; up to some later images denigrating Africans, which also open up a reflection on the instrumental use of prints and works of art from the early modern era in racist polemic; and then ending with the anti-Semitic polemic during the Second World War and the question of the circulation of visual stereotypes in different fields and newspapers. As is evident from the examples examined, this cut-and-paste technique of assembling images and texts offered a way of disassembling, reassembling and manipulating heterogeneous sources, weaving them into a new texture: a modern language mobilised to engage the viewer through violent visual propaganda.