Poster, Union de Muchachas/ Campamento Deportivo (Girls League Sports Camp)

The political, social and economic upheaval during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) inspired a powerful propaganda movement through print culture. Propaganda posters disseminated messages against Fascism, advertised war effort social groups, and encouraged military recruitment. Among these social groups was the Union de Muchachas, a sport camp for young women sponsored by the National Confederation for Physical Education, and issued by the Ministry of Public Instruction and Health. Only women who shared common interests in promoting the Republican cause of Spain were recruited to this specific social group. Juana Francisca Rubio Garcia (1911-2008), the designer of this poster, was one of the more well-known female cartelistas, poster illustrators, in Spain who signed her work. Although it is unknown whether she designed this poster for the protest against the Olympics held in Nazi Germany at the time, it suggests how athletic events maintained a political force throughout the war. The Union de Muchachas promoted the importance of exercise to the Republic and aspired to recruit strong and courageous women, such as the female figure depicted as the subject of this poster. Allowing women the opportunity to fight in the militias alongside men radicalized their social status tremendously in early-twentieth century Spain.

Poster, Union de Muchachas/ Campamento Deportivo (Girls League Sports Camp); Designed by Juana Francisca Rubio García, Spanish (1911 - 2008); Spain; lithograph on wove paper; 100.4 × 35 cm (39 1/2 × 13 3/4 in.); Gift of William P. Mangold; 1997-21-1