Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and its Application to Art

by Sheryl Tuttle Ross


Pablo Picasso's Guernica, Francisco de Goya's Fifth of May, Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, George Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier, Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, and D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, are all examples of expressly political art. Historically some art has been not only an object of aesthetic appreciation, but has also embodied and imparted a political message. Understanding the way art can be used to further political aims is an important part of art education. I contend that it is as important to investigate the political and cultural uses of art as it is to engage in the more traditional inquiries of form and style.