Consumer Front · Vol. 01 · Digital book
War did not suspend consumer culture.
It transformed it.
German Advertising, Typography and Graphic Design in Occupied Europe, 1940–1944.The first volume draws on material from 1940 and 1941.
An illustrated digital sourcebook that explores how print sold the idea of a better life in wartime Europe.
Notify me at launchA closer look at
the world on the page.
01 / INSIDE THE VOLUMEThe book is still taking shape. We’re sharing a few spreads now; the selection and layouts may change before publication.
Beauty, desire
and everyday aspiration.
Cameras, cosmetics, cars and clothes: even as war reshaped everyday life, advertising kept selling a picture of elegance, comfort and possibility.
WARNING: The lives promised in advertisements and photography could differ radically from those lived by their readers.
Planned page and image counts.
Different visual languages.
A shared historical moment.
02 / THE SELECTION
From image to original page.
03 / SOURCESEvery item in the digital book links to the original magazine page on which it appeared. The original pages are reproduced in the source section at the end of the book, so you can see each item in its original context and jump back to where you left off.
04 / The reproductions
The texture
is part of the story.
We scan the original magazines in the XXe Archives collection, preserving the tones of the paper, the halftone dots, the variations in ink and the marks left by age.
Historical notes, translations and source references appear at the end of the volume.
XXe Archives
XXe Archives explores twentieth-century visual culture through graphic design, photography, advertising and print. We select, digitise and restore material from our collection, bringing it into new editorial contexts.