{"product_id":"soviet-cosmonautics-day-gagarin-1961-propaganda","title":"Soviet Cosmonautics Day 1961 | Gagarin Propaganda Poster","description":"\u003cp\u003eYuri Gagarin looks out from his space helmet in front of a pale Earth globe, an orbital arc sweeping around it. To his right, a dark rocket ascends the full height of the composition, the orange hammer and sickle at its tip, the numerals 12 IV 1961 set in cream along its shaft. Stars sit in a deep navy ground. Upper left, bold pale-blue Cyrillic in two lines: ДЕНЬ КОСМОНАВТИКИ СССР, Cosmonautics Day, USSR.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDesigned by Valentin Viktorov (1909–1981), whose career as a Soviet state poster artist ran from the 1930s through to Plakat publications of the 1980s, this poster was produced for the USSR's annual Cosmonautics Day holiday. The holiday was established in 1962 to commemorate Gagarin's Vostok 1 flight of 12 April 1961: 108 minutes, one orbit, the first human being in space. The Soviet graphic apparatus responded with an output of posters, stamps, and ephemera that tied the achievement directly to party ideology, placing the hammer and sickle on the rocket itself as if the spacecraft were a flag planted in orbit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eViktorov's composition is characteristic of Khrushchev-era Soviet poster design: a centred portrait of the national hero, a sweeping cosmic backdrop in flat atmospheric blues, and typography integrated into the pictorial field rather than treated as a caption. The date functions as both information and monument, built into the image as a structural element. This poster sits in a well-documented lineage of Soviet space graphics that ran from 1957 (Sputnik) through the cosmonaut programme of the 1960s and into the Apollo era, produced to reinforce the message that the Soviet system had delivered humanity's first journey beyond the Earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReproduced on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper using pigment-based archival inks. A document of Cold War graphic design at its most concentrated: ideology, technology, and portraiture in a single composition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Poster Archives","offers":[{"title":"A4","offer_id":64482652291449,"sku":"VPA-13973-A4","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3","offer_id":64482652324217,"sku":"VPA-13973-A3","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2","offer_id":64482652356985,"sku":"VPA-13973-A2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"50x70cm","offer_id":64482652389753,"sku":"VPA-13973-50x70cm","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1","offer_id":64482652422521,"sku":"VPA-13973-A1","price":44.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"70x100cm","offer_id":64482652455289,"sku":"VPA-13973-70x100cm","price":59.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A0","offer_id":64482652488057,"sku":"VPA-13973-A0","price":69.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0994\/1139\/4937\/files\/Propaganda-USSR-CosmonautticsDay-12April1961.jpg?v=1788537403","url":"https:\/\/vintageposterarchives.com\/products\/soviet-cosmonautics-day-gagarin-1961-propaganda","provider":"Vintage Poster Archives","version":"1.0","type":"link"}