William Dodge Stevens Teamwork Builds Ships. 1917. A three man team of shipyard workers uses a pneumatic rivet gun to bolt parts of a merchant ship’s steel hull together. These parts were manufactured elsewhere and sent by rail to East Coast shipyards and then assembled on site. This was a new and more efficient way…
This famous Parliamentary Recruiting Committee poster shows a British cavalry officer pointing his 1908 pattern cavalry sword at the enemy while charging forward at a full gallop. At this time (1914) he was also armed with a full sized Lee-Enfield rifle through it’s not shown here. Cavalrymen were dressed in khaki and wore service dress…
This poster was printed for the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC) in 1915. All told, the PRC produced nearly 200 recruiting posters for the government before Britain was forced to draft soldiers such was the need for replacement troops caused by the large number of casualties that deadlocked and seemingly endless trench warfare had already created.…
Hans Rudi Erdt (1883-1918) produced two WWI, German posters that are the subject of this blog: “Bei Unsern Blau Jacken” (c. 1917) which translates “With Our Blue Jackets” and “Flieger Zur See” (c. 1915) which translates “Naval Pilot.” These propaganda posters were intended to bolster support for the German navy. Some believe that they are…
Champions of Flight focuses on two outstanding, aviation artists who worked between 1919 and 1945, William John Heaslip (1898-1970) and Clayton Joseph Knight (1891-1969). They were both former military men who later studied art at prestigious American art schools. Together they combined their past military experiences and their keen interest in aviation to become leaders in…
Erwin Puchuinger War Loan 1915. German war bond poster’s title trnslatess “ Subscribe to the Third War Loan at 51/2% Interest.” All told, the Germans conducted eight war loan drives during the war. Germany not only financed its own war effort but that off its hapless, Austro-Hungarian allies as well. The Germans and the Austro…
Artist Unknown: It’s a Long Way to Rome 1943. This is one of the most interesting World War II, German propaganda posters that we have ever had. Its title and the word Rome are both written in English while the supporting text running along the bottom and a bar scale appearing along the poster’s left…
Mihaly Biro To the Front. 1915. Hungarian text advertises “Easy fights, stunts and games” at this show which includes an army parade with a military band. This extravaganza is organized by the Budapest Garrison for the benefit of military charities under the auspices of the Austrian Empire and the Hungarian Monarchy. Evidently it was so…
The only known World War I Poster to depict a black American soldier. Recently exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.. Two American doughboys, one white one black, sprint across France headed for the Western Front despite their incredibly heavy load of badly needed munitions and military equipment. The more clearly visible of…
Harry R. Hopps was a set designer and owner of the United Glass Art Company in San Francisco when he designed this recruiting classic just as America entered World War I which was then already in its fourth bloody year when we joined the fight in April. It advertises an army recruiting station located 660…