"A Bachelor Dictator at a Party in Germany"
International News Photos Inc.
United States, active 1909–1958
November 1937
A gelatin silver print showing a uniformed political leader wearing a swastika armband posed arm‑in‑arm with young women in traditional dress, staged to present him as approachable and celebrated at a social gathering.
What strikes you is the tense contrast between the leader’s stiff, composed stance and conspicuous armband and the bright, linked‑arm circle of smiling girls in folkloric costumes around him.
The image exemplifies how 1930s authoritarian movements used staged social photography—invoking youth, gender, and folk tradition—to normalize authority and shape public perception, a key development in the visual language of modern political propaganda.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 5/8 × 6 15/16" (16.8 × 17.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2024.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
