GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA-COMISSARIAT DE PROPAGANDA.

[COMISSARIAT DE PROPAGANDA].

About this Item

Original large Catalonian state flag of the Second Spanish Republic. 85 x 116 cm., doubled strips of red, yellow and murrey, appliqued with four red stripes on gold of Catalonia in a sable edged shield in the centre, titles in gilt braid on yellow and murrey, verso in the same tricolour, fringed with twisted yellow, red and murrey threads, sailcoth, Catala text. A recently made flag pole is available. N.p. [Barcelona area], n.p. [Generalitat De Catalunya - Commissariat De Propaganda], n.d. C. 1936. £5,000.00 The edges of the shield fraying, old oil stains but not affecting text, fine fringe. An important State flag that is surely a unicum. The term ?rare survival' is often used in the booktrade to suggest the near impossibility of often quite mundane books and objects that have endured the rigors of history (often in very stable countries). However, given the remarkably violent events that Spain was embroiled in during 1936-1939 and the harsh repression of political expression that ensued after Franco took power it is indeed remarkable that this large flag has survived. Ownership of this was very risky indeed and if you were found with it then you might suffer imprisonment, hard labour or even death for the possessor and even your family might be sent into social and economic Coventry with your children seized and given away to racially ?superior' Nationalist couples. This very rare propaganda flag from the propaganda commissioner of the Catalan government was found a decade or so ago in a former sail workshop converted into an auto parts warehouse amongst a collection of other flags and banners covering a wide spectrum of the Popular Front of the left and liberals who fought against Franco's rebels. I bought perhaps 99% of them at the time and sold the greater part of them to one customer and so as such there have been no other flags on the market since (or even before). The only other flags/banners that I know of are usually International Brigade examples that were, I think, presented to former combatants as they returned home in 1939. Most of them seem to have been deposited in left-leaning museums and collections such as the Marx Memorial Library. The Spanish Republic may have lost the military civil war against Franco but it arguably triumphed in the war of propaganda. The Civil War period was characterised by a renaissanace in the graphic arts directed towards maintaining morale on the home and military fronts and projecting Republican Spain's influence overseas. Much of this was directed by the Commissariat De Propaganda, so it is perhaps very poignant to offer a flag for that very same important office.

Seller Inventory # HW36

Bibliographic Details

• Title: GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA-COMISSARIAT DE PROPAGANDA.
• Binding: Hardcover