Luciano Cheles is a member of the Laboratoire Universitaire Histoire Cultures Italie Europe of the University of Grenoble Alpes and taught Italian Studies at the University of Poitiers, France. Alessandro Giacone is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna.
As a historical study of official portraits, encompassing a wide range of nations and regimes, this is a valuable addition to the literature on visual political communication. By reading across the case studies one can build a rich picture of how portraits of leaders have evolved over time, reacting to changing contexts while retaining specific national symbols and icons that connote a particular style of leadership. --Times Higher Education Bringing to bear expertise in domains from political science to graphic design and communication management, they offer chapters on the expected twentieth-century autocrats -- Mao and Mussolini, the Ceausescus and the Kims -- but also on images of Mitterrand and Macron, Churchill and Thatcher, American presidents praised and pilloried. --The New York Review of Books ...This volume is a particularly welcome addition to the shelves. It consists of seventeen chapters by sixteen contributors. Their quality is high overall, and they fit together very well. --Journal of Modern Italian Studies ...This is a valuable contribution to the field of visual communication and the growing field of visual politics, and essential reading for scholars and students interested in the iconography of political leadership. --Visual Communication Cheles and Giacone's collection of studies of leader's official portraits and propaganda gives fascinating insights into the evolution of image management over the last century... --International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing An original and perceptive collective contribution to the study of both politics and visual culture. --Peter Burke, University of Cambridge, UK