What leaps out first in Otto Plattner’s CH-NB Poster Collection SNL POL 368 is the stark, theatrical contrast of red and black, drawing the viewer into a charged world of division and exclusion. The poster is split into two registers: above, a bearded orator stands at a podium, arm outstretched in a gesture of command or dismissal, while a crowd of red-clad figures surge toward him, their faces animated by fervor or protest. On the right, a cluster of more reserved figures—some with arms folded, some with hands in pockets—look on, set apart by both posture and palette.

Below, a second scene unfolds in a darkened archway: two guards, one in a worker’s cap and stripes, block the entrance, firmly directing a group of men away. The text, bold and declarative, underscores the message of separation and denial. Every gesture and line in Plattner’s drawing is sharpened to a point, the composition corralling the viewer’s attention toward the act of exclusion at its heart. Created around 1943, this poster belongs to a turbulent era when political posters were a primary weapon in the battle for public opinion across Europe.

In Switzerland, as elsewhere, such works were commissioned by political groups seeking to sway voters or warn against perceived threats—here, the “Reds” are both subject and object of suspicion, their internal solidarity turned into a reason for public rejection. The style—cartoonish but biting, with exaggerated features and simplified forms—reflects the visual language of propaganda, designed for instant impact in the street or meeting hall. Preserved today in a Swiss collection, this work is a rare survivor of its kind, a visual fossil from a moment when the boundaries between “us” and “them” were drawn not just in words, but in bold, unforgettable lines.

The longer one looks, the more the poster’s choreography of gesture and color reveals about the anxieties and strategies of its time.