Study for Russia Restituenda (Russia Must Recover)

Study for Russia Restituenda (Russia Must Recover)
Pen and ink and watercolour on paper, 1922
The poster served as a plea for help for starving children in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War (1917–22), which paralyzed the country and killed millions through widespread disease and starvation. The situation was further worsened by a catastrophic famine, which broke out in the Volga-Ural region in 1921, prompting international relief efforts. Mucha’s poster conveys a compassionate message through the image of a distressed peasant woman holding a dying child—an image adapted from the Christian iconography of Mother and Child. For the message at the bottom ‘Russia Must Recover’ Mucha chose to use Latin, a universal language, to indicate the impartiality and internationalism of this humanitarian effort.