Cartilla Escolar Antifascista y Cartilla Aritmética Antifascista

The start of the Civil War in Spain marked a break in the changes in the area of education and culture, carried out by the Republic to make way for a new type of reform, transformation of revolutionary character, understanding that school could not be left out of the war that was developing in the country. The ideology of this new reform was based on the consideration of education as a social function: namely, that this is not a privilege of the ruling class but also the means of the education system will be earmarked primarily to the promotion of the proletariat and the peasantry. One of the foundations of the social role of education in fighting illiteracy formed the Antifascist School Primer and Primer Antifascist Arithmetic: Antifascist complement Horn Book of the Ministry of Public Instruction, published with a total circulation of 150,000 copies. Both works were commissioned by the Ministry of Education of the Republic Inspector of Primary Education teacher and prominent republican Andalusian Fernando Saínz Ruiz (1889-1957), journalist and director of Mundo Obrero during Civil War Eusebio Gutierrez Cimorra (1908-2007 ); the design and illustration of them were in charge of typographer and graphic artist of Polish origin juido Mauricio Amster Cats (1907-1980) and counted with collages of photographs of the filmmaker and photographer of the Educational Missions José Val del Omar (1904-1982 ) and the painter and poster Calandín Jose Guzman. Primers were designed as a basic tool for the Republican campaign against illiteracy. The authors used the new educational methods and modern typography introduced in the twenties, a comprehensive approach to teaching the first letters and basic arithmetic operations, linking to a topic of interest (political slogans) and use rates specially designed print and as a result gave a clear and simple layout of both texts and illustrations. They also became one of the key elements of the work of the Militias of Culture, established by decree of the Ministry of Public and Fine Arts Instruction, of January 30, 1937, by which empowers the Minister to organize under the title "Militias of Culture" the body of teachers and school instructors for teaching fighters. The architect of the approach embodied in the Primers was Fernando Sainz Ruiz, author of important educational work during the republican period, and is a clear manifestation of the importance attached by the Republicans to basic education of the whole population. Much more popular are the artistic aspects of these graphic works and figure of Mauricio Amster. He studied painting in Vienna at age 20 he moved to Berlin, where he studied graphic communication, typography and design publications in the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1930 he moved to Spain where it was consolidated during the Republic, working as a graphic artist for various magazines, newspapers and publishers. Exiled in Chile, Amster is considered one of the designers whose aesthetic, technical and educational contribution was decisive for the renovation and development of graphic arts in Spain and Chile. [Information taken from articles Cristina Cuevas-Wolf, Activismo en el frente bélico: la cartilla escolar antifascista y la lucha por la alfabetización y la cultura, and Vicente Meavilla Seguí, La cartilla aritmética antifascista (1937), un manual de educación matemática y propaganda política].The start of the Civil War in Spain marked a break in the changes in the area of education and culture, carried out by the Republic to make way for a new type of reform, transformation of revolutionary character, understanding that school could not be left out of the war that was developing in the country. The ideology of this new reform was based on the consideration of education as a social function: namely, that this is not a privilege of the ruling class but also the means of the education system will be earmarked primarily to the promotion of the proletariat and the peasantry. One of the foundations of the social role of education in fighting illiteracy formed the Antifascist School Primer and Primer Antifascist Arithmetic: Antifascist complement Horn Book of the Ministry of Public Instruction, published with a total circulation of 150,000 copies. Both works were commissioned by the Ministry of Education of the Republic Inspector of Primary Education teacher and prominent republican Andalusian Fernando Saínz Ruiz (1889-1957), journalist and director of Mundo Obrero during Civil War Eusebio Gutierrez Cimorra (1908-2007 ); the design and illustration of them were in charge of typographer and graphic artist of Polish origin juido Mauricio Amster Cats (1907-1980) and counted with collages of photographs of the filmmaker and photographer of the Educational Missions José Val del Omar (1904-1982 ) and the painter and poster Calandín Jose Guzman. Primers were designed as a basic tool for the Republican campaign against illiteracy. The authors used the new educational methods and modern typography introduced in the twenties, a comprehensive approach to teaching the first letters and basic arithmetic operations, linking to a topic of interest (political slogans) and use rates specially designed print and as a result gave a clear and simple layout of both texts and illustrations. They also became one of the key elements of the work of the Militias of Culture, established by decree of the Ministry of Public and Fine Arts Instruction.